The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics has issued a stark warning regarding the potential employment crisis caused by the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. According to a report received by the Hankyoreh from Kim Tae-sun's office, a member of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment, and Labor Committee, the institute's report titled 'Pre-assessment of Employment Impact - 2025 AI and Digital Transformation' suggests that the employment effects of AI could manifest in a way similar to structural shocks. The researchers indicate that the employment crisis could suddenly surface at a specific future point when multiple triggering conditions accumulate, drawing a parallel to seismic events.

Currently, AI's impact on employment is relatively limited and primarily seen through reduced hiring in some sectors. However, the report raises concerns that in a crisis, corporate executives may expediently decide to replace human labor with AI. This evaluation was conducted by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics following the new labor stability support laws that came into effect in 2024 and is designed to provide the government with a foundation for relevant policy formulations.

Furthermore, the researchers classified the industrial transformation propelled by AI as a "third technological singularity," capable of rapidly replacing labor demand across various sectors in a way distinct from previous automation. They noted that AI has shown superior performance in areas traditionally considered human domains, including language comprehension, context inference, probabilistic generalization, and problem-solving. This denotes an unsettling potential for AI to transcend from being a mere auxiliary tool to taking over essential higher cognitive and creative tasks traditionally owned by humans, leading to significant labor market implications in the coming years.