Not long ago, choosing a restaurant in Seoul required some effort. You searched on Naver. You skimmed blog reviews. You checked ratings on Kakao Map. You compared prices. You asked friends on KakaoTalk. Sometimes, you still had to make a phone call.
Soon, it may take one sentence. “Find me a quiet wine bar in Gangnam.”
Within seconds, a list appears on the screen. Photos, location, price range and user ratings are displayed. For restaurants linked to KakaoTalk’s reservation system, a “Book Now” button follows immediately. One tap, and the table is secured.
No browser. No switching apps. No comparison sites. Everything happens inside a chat window.
This is powered by Kakao’s new “Kanana in KakaoTalk” service, which integrates generative AI with Kakao Map, Kakao Pay and Kakao Booking. Users can search, compare, reserve and pay without leaving the messenger app.
Somewhere between typing and tapping, the decision disappears.
Korea did not drift into this future. It rushed toward it.
For decades, the country treated connectivity as basic infrastructure. High-speed internet, universal smartphones and mobile payments spread faster than in most advanced economies. Artificial intelligence is simply the next layer.
By 2025, more than 20 million Koreans were using generative AI services every month. Many paid for premium subscriptions. Many used AI tools daily at work and at home — for writing, research, translation and scheduling.
In Korea, AI is no longer a novelty. It is becoming part of everyday utilities, like messaging or banking.
You notice it only when it fails. What makes this moment different is not speed. It is delegation.
In the early days of the internet, information became abundant, but judgment still belonged to users. People compared sources, checked credibility and made their own choices.
AI compresses that process. It summarizes reviews. Ranks options. Suggests “best” choices. And now, through agent-style services, it completes transactions.
It does not just recommend a restaurant. It books it. It does not just compare prices. It pays for you.
Convenience turns into commitment. This shift is spreading across professional life.
Law firms use AI to draft contracts and summarize rulings. Banks rely on algorithms for investment memos and risk analysis. Hospitals use AI tools for image reading and literature searches. Marketing teams generate copy and campaign plans automatically.
At first, this feels efficient. Reports appear in minutes. Presentations are produced instantly. Productivity rises.
Then a subtle change occurs. Employees stop writing first drafts. They edit machine drafts. They stop framing problems from scratch. They begin from what the AI suggests. The system’s first answer becomes the default.
Businesses are adapting quickly. A new industry is emerging around a simple question: How do you appear in AI answers? Companies now analyze how often their brands are mentioned in ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity responses. Marketing strategies are shifting from search engine optimization to “answer optimization.”
The old goal was to rank high on Google. The new goal is to be cited by chatbots.
Visibility is no longer earned only from readers. It is negotiated with algorithms.
For ordinary users, the consequences are less visible.
Consider navigation apps.
When GPS first appeared, it eliminated wrong turns. Over time, many people lost the ability to navigate familiar routes without it.
The same pattern is emerging with AI. When every comparison is automated, people stop comparing.
When every answer is summarized, people stop reading. When every decision is packaged, people stop questioning.
Judgment weakens quietly.
This is not mainly about machines becoming smarter. It is about humans becoming more dependent.
The danger is not that AI makes errors. It does.
The danger is that users accept them without scrutiny. Societies usually adapt to new technologies in two stages.
First, they celebrate efficiency. Later, they confront dependence.
Korea is entering the second stage. The question is no longer whether AI works. It clearly does.
The question is whether people still understand the systems they rely on — and whether they are prepared to challenge them. That requires habits - clearly labeling AI-generated work, verifying sources and data, keeping final responsibility with humans.
Teaching students to question AI outputs, not just use them. These are not technical issues. They are social and civic ones.
Artificial intelligence accelerates everything. It shortens the distance between intention and action.
But speed without direction leads nowhere — faster.
Today, millions of Koreans move from message to purchase, from question to decision, without pausing. It feels like progress.
In many ways, it is. But progress that replaces thinking with convenience comes at a cost.
In the age of AI agents, the most important skill may not be prompting or coding.
It may be the simple habit of thinking — before tapping “Confirm.”
*The author is the managing editor of AJP
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.