▲AI PRISM* Customized Economic Briefing
*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news articles by reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Regional Manufacturing AX and Youth Job Creation: Ulsan City has signed a manufacturing AX pact with 13 institutions including Hyundai Motor, SK Telecom, and UNIST, launching a full-scale effort to train specialized personnel for AI data center operations. As SK Telecom and local universities discuss in concrete terms the creation of AI data center-specialized curricula, internships, and contract-based departments, analysts say a virtuous job-creation cycle directly linked to youth employment is taking shape.
■ AI Labor Shock and a Redesigned Labor Market: Lee Han-joo, chairman of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, warned that the AI-driven productivity revolution could lead to slowing employment and eroding tax revenue, citing Amazon's replacement of 600,000 workers and workforce restructuring at IBM and Hyundai Motor (005380.KS). In response, an argument was raised at a policy forum that a "basic right to learning," under which the state provides financial support for individuals' lifelong learning design, needs to be introduced.
■ Minimum Wage Talks in Final Stretch: Two small business representatives on the Minimum Wage Commission walked out of the meeting, protesting public interest members' demand for an additional revised proposal, even though the small business side had conceded to a 2% increase in the ninth revised proposal. Analysts forecast that if no agreement is reached at the 14th plenary session on the 14th, the final decision will be made through a vote on the public interest members' mediation proposal.
[News of Interest to University Students and Job Seekers]
1. Ulsan Accelerates Manufacturing AX, Nurtures AIDC Talent Too
Key Summary: Ulsan City has signed a "Manufacturing Industry AX Expansion Business Agreement" with 13 major companies, universities, and research institutions including Hyundai Motor, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (267250.KS), SK Energy, Naver Cloud, SK Telecom, UNIST, and University of Ulsan, officially launching a public-private cooperation body. As data center demand surges amid accelerating AX across industry, the shortage of maintenance specialists such as server management and cooling systems has emerged as a pressing challenge. SK Telecom and local university officials discussed in depth concrete virtuous job-creation models, including joint development of AI data center-specialized curricula, corporate internships and field training, and the creation of contract-based departments. Analysts say demand for related technical personnel will expand rapidly as joint research and development of manufacturing-specialized small language models (sLLM) and physical AI gets underway in earnest.
2. Lee Han-joo: "Basic Society Is a Growth Condition in the AI Era"
Key Summary: At a policy forum jointly hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and KDI, Lee Han-joo, chairman of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, warned that the labor shock from AI development could lead to a fiscal shock. According to the National Assembly Budget Office, the ratio of tax revenue to GDP is projected to decline from 25.5% in 2025 to 22.0% in 2072, while the ratio of expenditure will rise from 24.5% to 33.6%, deepening fiscal risk. Lee said that workforce restructuring has become a reality, noting that Amazon has already decided to replace 600,000 workers and that IBM and Hyundai Motor are also pursuing workforce replacement. As an alternative, he proposed introducing a "basic right to learning," under which the state provides financial support so that individuals can proactively design their learning and careers throughout their lives.
3. "How Can We Raise the Minimum Wage Any More?"…Small Business Review Members Stage Protest Walkout
Key Summary: Members of the Minimum Wage Commission representing small businesses proposed a 2% increase in the ninth revised proposal but walked out of the meeting in protest against public interest members' demand for further revisions. Worker representatives are calling for an 8.7% increase in the ninth revised proposal, leaving the labor-management gap still at 6.7 percentage points. Next year's minimum wage is set to be finalized at the 14th plenary session on the 14th, and if no agreement is reached, analysts forecast it will move to a vote on the public interest members' mediation proposal. The minimum wage decision is a matter that directly affects the real income of job seekers who rely on short-term work such as part-time jobs and internships.
[Reference News for University Students and Job Seekers]
4. LG (003550.KS) to Build Physical AI 'World Model' with UK Unicorn
Key Summary: LG CNS has begun jointly developing an industry-specialized world model with PhysicsX, a UK physical AI startup valued at $2.4 billion (about 3.6 trillion won). A world model is a core physical AI technology that learns the laws of physics themselves to enable robots and machines to make their own judgments, and is regarded as a next-generation technology that will overcome the limitations of existing behavioral models such as insufficient behavioral data. As LG takes on world model development for the first time across all of its group affiliates, the development will be pursued by combining PhysicsX's manufacturing AI technology with LG CNS's field data. Analysts say demand for related job personnel will expand as physical AI development accelerates in the fields of robotics and smart factories.
5. Hyundai Motor Securities Accelerates AX, First Mid-Small Firm to Adopt Cloud AI Agent
Key Summary: Hyundai Motor Securities has become the first among mid-to-small securities firms to distribute its cloud-based AI work-support service "HAI 1.0" to all employees, joining the financial sector's AX competition in earnest. It adopted 'Claude Sonnet 4.5' as its base large language model (LLM), and resolved network separation regulations through designation as an innovative financial service. HAI 2.0, scheduled to be built within the year, will include a feature allowing any employee to directly create an AI agent suited to their own work, and in HAI 3.0 in 2027, the company plans to expand the scope of AI application across customer-facing services. Analysts say that as financial-sector AX spreads rapidly, talent with the capabilities to develop and operate AI agents is emerging as a key resource in the securities industry.
6. Conserving Fable5, Using Chinese AI for Easy Tasks
Key Summary: The global LLM Token Expenditure Index plunged 22% in about a month, as companies' moves to optimize AI costs spread rapidly. The share of using cheap Chinese low-cost models such as DeepSeek and Zhipu AI, which are about one-tenth the price, has grown for simple tasks, with the token share of Chinese models on OpenRouter reaching 48%, far exceeding that of U.S. models (20%). Nexon has temporarily suspended use of Anthropic's 'Claude Fable5' service, citing the cost burden from its shift to usage-based billing, and is reviewing its operating policy. The explanation is that jobs related to platforms supporting AI model selection and cost optimization suited to AX projects are newly emerging.
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