AI is not something that is nice to have; if you don't use it, you fail. That's because your competitors will. We live in a time when you just use it and decide by moving fast.
Sidae-yeobo author Song Gil-young said this at the third ChosunBiz "Biz Morning Insight (BMI)" lecture held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 24th, noting that artificial intelligence (AI) should be accepted as a basic tool of production rather than a choice. The lecture topic that day was "the birth of a lightweight civilization."
Song likened the spread of AI to kiosks. Kiosks are technology that has been around for a long time, but they spread quickly through restaurants, hospitals and stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. As ordering and payment no longer required a person, operating methods changed, and once a competing store started using a kiosk, others had no choice but to follow.
He said, "Using a kiosk can cut one person's labor cost, but in the end the rent goes up by that much," adding, "That's because building owners judge that other stores using kiosks can pay higher rent." He continued, "AI is the same," and said, "Even if I don't do it, if a competitor does, I eventually have to. That is why AI is unavoidable."
Song picked "AI agents" and "ontology" as the core of change this year. If last year was the year of large language models (LLMs), he said this year is moving to a stage where AI agents actually carry out tasks. He said, "This is the year of agents, and from the end of the year things will start to move with ontology."
Ontology is a knowledge system that organizes scattered work knowledge and decision criteria within an organization so AI can understand and use them. Song said, "To get agents to work properly, you have to pull out the knowledge and tacit understanding in the heads of the members inside the company," adding, "Going forward, whether you have something to pull out of your head will become an individual's competitiveness."
As AI enters work, the speed of decision-making at corporations is also getting much faster. In the past, even for a single exchange-rate outlook, it took months to convene an executive meeting, gather data, model and write a report. But using AI makes such analysis and reporting possible in real time, he said. Song said, "In the past, it took a week to get the data, three weeks for modeling, and two months to write the report," adding, "Now AI can extract it in real time."
He saw this change reshaping the competitive landscape among corporations. If one corporation uses AI to understand the market, expense and demand more accurately, it can lower prices to compete. Song said, "Margins will go to the extreme," adding, "If the side that knows the information more accurately starts lowering prices first, corporations that used to keep fat margins will be pushed back without room to respond."
He also expected the middle layers inside organizations to shrink quickly. In the past, corporations split work into small pieces and set multiple approval steps such as Director General, Vice Administrator, Director and others to manage them. But as AI and automation systems take over task allocation, compilation and review, the role of middle managers is shrinking.
At this point, Song brought up the so-called "Assistant Manager Kim" case. When a boss assigns an urgent task, the smartest hands-on worker in the organization, Assistant Manager Kim, comes to mind, but Kim is already busy and does not welcome extra work. Since the salary is a flat amount, more work does not immediately mean more pay. By contrast, AI does not talk back, does not eat, and can work all three shifts alone.
Song said, "If it is the same task, it will not come to humans," adding, "From now on, we will only do what AI cannot do." He continued, "Reading, writing, judging and explaining—desk jobs across the board—are now affected by AI," and said, "People must find work that AI cannot do."
Song defined the essence of a "lightweight civilization" as speed. A lightweight civilization means not simply shrinking the size of an organization, but reducing the steps of decision-making and execution. He said, "Lightweight civilization is not about heavy or light; it is a fast civilization," adding, "The middle steps that drag a two-day job into two weeks are disappearing."
The race for speed is also shaking price structures. Citing ad production costs, Song explained the collapse in unit prices. Ad production that used to cost hundreds of millions of won is rapidly falling as AI tools are used. He said, "Producing a TV commercial once cost 500 million won per spot, but now it is 20 million won, and if you make it with AI, it has dropped to 2 million won," adding, "Heavy organizations are finding it hard to keep prices."
He also predicted the agency industry would be affected. Functions of organizations in the middle that handled connections and representation—such as travel agencies, ad agencies and insurance agencies—could be replaced by AI agents and direct transactions, he said. He said, "The moment you use agents, existing agencies can disappear," adding, "If direct deals become possible, the role of companies in the middle shrinks."
AI is also changing the relationship between individuals and organizations. In the past, you had to belong to an organization to do big things, but now it is an era when individuals use AI tools and networks to compete directly with corporations. Song said, "Individuals have begun to compete with corporations," adding, "Going forward, the production unit will fragment further from teams to individuals."
Song compared a lightweight civilization to "a civilization of the sky." He said, "A civilization of the sky must fly, and to fly the body must be light," adding, "Birds are large in volume, but their bones are hollow." He added, "We must lighten up quickly. Stickiness alone will not let us take off," and said, "Prepare your share in the new civilization."