AI use at work in Korea has passed the adoption stage. What now separates performers is not whether someone uses AI, but the ability to pick the right tool for the task and verify what it produces.
That is the finding of Embrain Trend Monitor's "2026 AI Usage and Vibe Coding in the Work Environment" survey of 1,000 Korean office workers aged 19 to 59.
86.9% of respondents use AI services at work, and the frequency is substantial:
Usage frequency was markedly higher among workers in their 20s and 30s, indicating AI is deeply embedded in how younger employees work.
ChatGPT dominated at 82.3% (multiple responses allowed), followed by Gemini at 72.7% and Claude at 23.1%.
Claude's distribution is the interesting part. By age: 27.9% among those in their 20s and 32.0% in their 30s, against 17.2% for 40s and 14.4% for 50s. By organisation type: 38.8% at large enterprises and 30.3% among professional firms, versus 19.8% at SMEs and 18.6% in public institutions.
Perceived impact is real. 51.1% said productivity and speed had noticeably improved, and 46.0% called AI services indispensable to their work.
The notable shift lies beyond mastering a single tool.
Access to tools has been equalised. Output has not.
Adoption grew fast; organisational support did not keep pace.
The gap by company size is stark: 44.3% of large enterprises actively support AI use, against just 16.5% of SMEs.
Only 18.4% had received any internal AI training. AI is widely used on the ground, yet employees are largely learning through personal trial and error rather than structured company programs.
Expectations follow accordingly. 49.3% named support for a range of AI services as an essential benefit, and 57.9% agreed that quality AI training counts as a strong employee benefit.
How to factor AI into performance reviews is becoming a live concern.
The signal is that companies need to move past merely encouraging AI use and specify verification methods, disclosure expectations, and evaluation criteria.
Vibe coding — describing the intended program in natural language and having AI implement the code — is not yet a familiar concept.
Combined hands-on experience (frequent + occasional + tried once) reached only 34.2%.
The reversal is in intent. 62.9% said they would be willing to try vibe coding, and 70.3% said they would take a course if training were offered.
Expectations about its spread were measured. Only 26.6% expect it to become universal across all work, while 42.5% — the largest group — expect it to be used in specific functions. Data analysis, automation and planning are the likely first adopters.
Relatedly, 57.7% believe that planning ability and question-framing — instructing AI clearly — will matter more than writing code directly. 42.7% said workers who cannot do vibe coding will lose competitiveness.
Adoption is done; capability design is the remaining work. With 86.9% already using AI, "should we adopt this" is a settled question. Deciding which tool attaches to which task, and building a verification step, is what comes next.
Training gaps become performance gaps. An 18.4% training rate means most organisations are relying on individual trial and error. Given that only 16.5% of SMEs actively support AI use, training investment may deliver disproportionate returns at smaller companies.
Set evaluation criteria first. With 40.8% sensing overvaluation and 34.6% calling it unfair, leaving this unaddressed invites internal friction. Specifying disclosure expectations and output verification is the cheaper fix.
For why organisational pilots stall, see Four Myths About AI Agents: Why 88% of Pilots Never Reach Production. For how the tools themselves are positioned against each other, see How Claude Passed ChatGPT: Three Moves That Work for a Late Entrant.
In Embrain Trend Monitor’s survey of 1,000 employees, 86.9% reported using AI services at work — 20.3% dozens of times a day and 15.3% every day.
ChatGPT led at 82.3% (multiple responses allowed), followed by Gemini at 72.7% and Claude at 23.1%. Claude skewed toward workers in their 20s and 30s and toward large enterprises and professional firms.
Only 18.4% had received internal AI training. The most common answer, at 41.8%, was that the company encourages AI use but provides no specific support; 22.2% said their company actively supports it.
Only 10.4% know it well and 50.2% had never heard of it. However, 62.9% said they would be willing to try it, and 70.3% would take a course if training were offered.
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