AI Proficiency Is Outranking Traditional “Spec” Credentials in Korea
Key Takeways
1. AI proficiency now ranks second only to experience and practical skills as a source of career competitiveness.
2. Nearly all AI-using workers surveyed say AI has changed how they work.
3. Careers are extending beyond the main job, with many already pursuing outside activities and expecting multiple income sources.
Generative AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday work in Korea. In a 2025 survey by the Bank of Korea, the country’s central bank, 51.8% of 5,512 employed people aged 15–64 said they used generative AI for work — about twice the U.S. figure of 26.5% cited in the same report.
So how do people who already use AI as part of their everyday work think about their careers? Twenties Lab surveyed 1,200 Korean workers aged 25–59 who regularly use AI to improve productivity, looking at what they believe makes them competitive in their careers, how AI is changing their work, and how their careers are extending beyond their main jobs.
About the Research
Twenties Lab surveyed 1,200 workers aged 25–59 across Korea who use AI to improve work productivity. Respondents aged 25–49 used AI at least three to four days a week, while those aged 50–59 used it at least one to two days a week. The study was conducted through an online panel using a structured questionnaire, with purposive quota sampling based on gender, age, and the regional distribution of the economically active population. Fieldwork took place from Mar. 25 to Apr. 2, 2026.
1. AI Proficiency Now Ranks Second in Career Competitiveness
What do these workers see as giving them an edge in their careers?
In Twenties Lab’s 2026 survey of 1,200 Korean workers who regularly use AI at work, job experience and practical skills (56.1%) and AI proficiency (42.3%) were the two most selected factors in career competitiveness. Both ranked well ahead of job-related certifications (27.3%) and industry networks and professional connections (24.0%). Among the workers surveyed, the ability to use AI is already seen as an important career asset, second only to experience and practical skills.
What stands out even more is how far AI proficiency ranked above traditional “spec” credentials. In Korea, “spec” has taken on a broader meaning in the job market, referring to the résumé credentials people accumulate to demonstrate their competitiveness — educational background, language test scores, and certifications. In this survey, educational background — including graduate or continuing education — was selected by 11.8%, general-knowledge certifications such as Korean history and language credentials by 10.5%, and standardized English test scores by just 8.1%. AI proficiency, at 42.3%, was about three to five times as likely to be selected as these traditional “spec” markers.
This does not mean traditional credentials have lost their value. Rather, the results signal that AI proficiency is gaining ground as a new measure of career competitiveness.
Seniority also made a difference. AI proficiency was selected as a factor in career competitiveness by 51.1% of senior managers, compared with 41.1% of mid-level managers and 39.6% of junior staff.
A similar pattern appears in Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index, its annual global survey of workers and business leaders: 79% of leaders said they believed AI would help their careers, compared with 67% of employees. The two surveys differ in both their questions and samples, but it is notable that more senior groups in both place greater value on AI for their careers.
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By contrast, junior staff in the Twenties Lab survey were relatively more likely to select job-related certifications (30.5%) and personal branding and self-promotion (17.7%). This may reflect a greater emphasis among early-career workers on visible ways of signaling their capabilities, from credentials to self-promotion.
2. How Is AI Changing the Experience of Work?
In this survey, 97.8% of respondents reported at least one change in their work after using AI. Among these AI-using workers, changes in how work gets done appear to be nearly universal.
Among those who reported a change, 71.6% cited improved work speed, followed by improved work quality and accuracy (54.6%) and a reduction in simple, repetitive tasks (52.8%). Workers report changes that go beyond speed, extending to the quality of the output and the composition of the work itself.
Organization size also made a difference. Among respondents who experienced changes after using AI, workers at large corporations were relatively more likely to report fewer simple, repetitive tasks (58.4%) and an expansion of certain roles or responsibilities (32.2%). At mid-sized companies, a distinct category in Korea between large corporations and SMEs, a reduction in certain roles or responsibilities (29.0%) was relatively more prominent.
The findings suggest that the changes workers experience after using AI may differ across organizational contexts.
3. Careers Are Expanding Beyond the Main Job
For many of the workers surveyed, career activity was not confined to their roles inside a company. Among the 1,200 AI-using Korean workers in Twenties Lab’s 2026 survey, 58.9% said they were currently pursuing career-related activities outside their main job.
Among those already pursuing such activities, the assets they put to work outside their main job differed by career stage. Among junior staff, content creation (63.7%) — including YouTube, Instagram, blogs, and e-books — was relatively prominent. Among senior managers, knowledge- and expertise-based activities (59.5%), such as speaking, consulting, translation, and book publishing, stood out.
This broader view of a career also showed up in how respondents imagined their future income. 71.0% of respondents expected their future income to come from more than one source.
Taken together, more than half are already pursuing career activities outside their main jobs, while seven in ten envision a future with multiple income streams. For the workers surveyed, a career can extend beyond “one company” and “one paycheck.”
Across the survey, several signals appeared at once: AI proficiency as a factor in career competitiveness, changes in day-to-day work, and careers extending beyond the boundaries of a primary job. To understand shifts like these, it is not enough to track whether people use a new technology. We also need to understand what that technology comes to mean for their work and careers.
Understand Korean Consumers with Twenties Lab
At Twenties Lab, we analyze changes in Korean consumer behavior and attitudes through consumer research, social listening, trend research, and Zetwork, our Gen Z consumer network. Our work began with research on people in their twenties, and we have tracked generational change from the time Millennials were in their twenties through Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We help global brands understand Korean consumers more deeply and turn consumer insights into brand strategy.
If you are entering or expanding in Korea, or need deeper consumer insights into a specific category, target audience, or your own brand, reach out to us through our LinkedIn page.
