ISSUE BRIEFING

"If You Can't Do AI, Even the CEO's Seat Is at Risk"... Global Executives Begin to Tense Up

According to a PwC survey, 42% of global CEOs cited whether they are innovating their businesses fast enough to keep pace with technological changes, including AI, as their biggest concern. Only 12% globally and 14% in South Korea have simultaneously achieved revenue growth and cost reduction through AI, revealing a performance gap among companies. In the Conference Board survey, among social, demographic, and technological risks, AI was ranked number one by CEOs, C-suite executives, and boards of directors alike. The WEF evaluated the negative consequences of AI as rising from 30th place in the 2-year outlook to 5th place in the 10-year outlook, viewing it as the fastest-rising global risk in the long term. For South Korean companies, execution capability—connecting organizational, workforce, and technological foundations as well as performance measurement systems to actual management systems rather than simply adopting AI—has emerged as a critical challenge.