Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way people search for information, shifting from traditional search engines to asking AI questions. Notably, the usage rate of generative AI among individuals in their 20s has reached 92.6%, indicating its establishment as a daily service.
On June 3, the Ministry of Science and ICT released the results of its '2025 Telecommunications Business Survey.' According to the survey, the experience rate of using generative AI was recorded at 78.1%. Among age groups, those in their 20s had the highest usage rate at 92.6%. Additionally, 47.1% of respondents expressed trust in the information or news obtained through generative AI, significantly outpacing the 9.2% who did not trust it.
The survey also indicated that generative AI is impacting search service usage behaviors. About 60% of generative AI users reported that it has replaced more than 50% of their search activities. Specifically, 18.8% of respondents indicated that AI has replaced 60-70% of their searches, followed by 17.7% who reported a 50-60% replacement, and 16.5% who noted a 70-80% replacement. The tool is also being utilized extensively in work and study, with 76.4% of respondents stating that generative AI has helped improve productivity in these areas. Conversely, only 1.9% felt it did not help.
Examining the overall usage of digital platforms, search portals and messaging apps continue to have the highest usage rates. The survey found that 98.7% of respondents used search portals, followed closely by messaging apps at 98.5%, place and map services at 96.8%, e-commerce at 95.6%, and video-sharing services at 92.7%. Daily usage rates were highest for messaging apps at 91.3%, followed by search portals at 85.8%, video-sharing services at 69.5%, and social media at 56.6%. This suggests that most citizens are using major platform services almost daily.
Competition among platforms is intensifying. In the past three months, the rate of 'multi-homing,' or using two or more platforms, was highest in e-commerce at 83.9%. This was followed by social media at 79.9%, search portals at 76.9%, and place and map services at 69.1%. E-commerce users were found to utilize an average of 3.4 platforms, indicating a highly competitive market.
In contrast, the rates of multi-homing were relatively low for second-hand trading (25.9%) and app markets (24.9%), suggesting that users exhibit strong loyalty to specific platforms.
The experience of changing primary platforms was notably higher in food delivery (27.0%) and e-commerce (20.9%). In contrast, app markets (10.3%) and messaging apps (9.4%) showed lower transition rates, indicating a strong lock-in effect among users. Common reasons for not switching platforms included habits, service quality, and the desire to maintain usage history.
Meanwhile, the revenue from domestic value-added telecommunications services was estimated at 502.9 trillion won last year, with digital platform service revenue accounting for 161.5 trillion won. These figures represent increases of 15.3% and 5.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
According to real-time app and payment data analysis solution WiseApp and Retail, ChatGPT had 23.45 million monthly active users in April. Gemini recorded 8.45 million users, while Claude had 2.41 million. Among these, Claude saw the most significant growth compared to the same month last year, with a user growth rate of 1,148%. Following were Gemini at 1,034% and ChatGPT at 34%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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