Korea ranks 12th globally in AI adoption 

Korea was ranked 12th place in the global AI diffusion scale, with more than 40 percent of the population using the technology in the second quarter, a report from Microsoft showed Monday.

Generative AI usage rate among Koreans aged 15 to 64 rose 3.5 percentage points from the previous quarter, bringing the country up by four places as of end-June, according to the global AI diffusion report published by the U.S. software giant.

Global usage rate of generative AI was up 1 percentage point from 17.8 percent in the January-March period to 18.8 percent in the April-June period, the report showed.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the leader in AI adoption, with a usage rate of 73.3 percent. They were followed by Singapore at 64.3 percent, Ireland at 49.9 percent and France, which was estimated at 49.6 percent.

AI usage rate was 28.8 percent in the Global North and 16.2 percent in the Global South, as the adoption gap widened to 12.6 percentage points.

The Global North is a term referring to wealthy, industrialized countries, such as the United States, Korea, Japan, Israel and New Zealand. The Global South refers to developing nations, often with lower incomes, including most of Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia.

This divide reflects the systemic challenges facing the Global South, where limited access to electricity, internet connectivity and digital skills continue to constrain adoption, Microsoft said, noting the benefits of generative AI will remain unevenly distributed until these gaps are addressed.

Yonhap