An analysis by the Bank of Korea (BOK) found that the continued outflow of Korea's artificial intelligence (AI) talent is due to relatively low pay. The Bank of Korea (BOK) warned that if high-skilled AI talent is not sufficiently compensated, the brain drain could accelerate.
On Jan. 5, according to the report "Status of AI professionals and supply-demand imbalance: analysis of scale, wages, and mobility," prepared by the Bank of Korea using data from workforce analytics firm Revelio Labs, the number of AI professionals residing in Korea last year was estimated at about 57,000. That is roughly double the 28,000 in 2010.
However, the number of people leaving for overseas also rose sharply during this period. The number of AI personnel who worked in Korea but moved abroad reached 11,011 last year, 2.6 times the 4,213 in 2010. As the number of people working abroad increased, the share of overseas workers among all AI personnel rose from 13.1% to 16.1%. This is about 6 percentage points higher than other occupations.
As the number of residents overseas climbed steeply, Korea's AI workforce saw a steady net outflow. Excluding 2020, when COVID-19 spread, the net outflow—overseas workers minus those entering Korea—remained positive each year since 2010. The net outflow rose from 425 people in 2010 to 840 in 2017, and came to 162 last year.
The researchers pointed to wages below the global level as the background for domestic AI talent leaving the country. Last year, wages for AI personnel in Korea were about 6% higher than the average across other industries, but still fell short of international levels. In the United States, AI personnel earned 25% more than other industries; in Canada, 18% more; and in the United Kingdom and France, 15% more.
Reflecting this wage gap, the United States was also the country that drew the most domestic AI talent. The number of AI personnel working in the United States last year was about 6,313, three times the 2,110 in 2010. Canada (649), Singapore (586), the United Kingdom (406), Australia (383), and Japan (355) followed.
The researchers said, "Relatively low compensation may act as one of the main causes of the overseas outflow of Korea's core AI talent," and advised, "To cultivate AI talent, Korea should establish compensation systems and research environments that meet international standards so that outstanding personnel can continue to flow into and settle in the country."