In Korea, nearly 4 out of 10 people were found to have used Generative AI such as ChatGPT. As Generative AI rapidly spreads as a means for information search, learning, and work assistance, anxiety is also growing over misinformation and criminal misuse.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission and Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) announced the results of the "2025 Intelligent Information Society User Panel Survey" on the 28th. The survey was conducted with 4,324 people ages 18 to 72 across 17 cities and provinces nationwide who use smartphones and access the internet at least once a day.
Among respondents, 38.9% said they have experience using Generative AI. That figure has risen for three consecutive years from 12.3% in 2023 and 24.0% in 2024. The average daily usage time among those with experience was 49.6 minutes.
The most common reason for using it was efficiency in information search at 86.0%. Responses saying it helps with time management were 72.6%, support for learning activities 68.2%, and solving complex problems and supporting routine work were 64.8% each.
Awareness of side effects also became more pronounced. Concerns about the spread of misinformation rose by 9.6 percentage points from the previous year, and worries about criminal misuse and the creation of content that is hard to distinguish as true or false increased by 9 percentage points and 8.9 percentage points, respectively.
As for reasons for not using Generative AI, the most common response was that it is difficult to use, at 63.5%. Expense burden, concerns about personal information infringement, and ethical issues were also cited as reasons for nonuse.
This survey is part of the Intelligent Information Society user panel statistics accumulated since 2022, and the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) plans to use the results to develop policies to protect AI users.