More than half of generative artificial intelligence (AI) users in Korea last year were "multi-homing" users who use two or more platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini, according to a government survey.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) released the "2025 Value-Added Telecommunications Business Survey Results" containing these findings on Wednesday.
The survey of 2,500 adult men and women aged 19 to 69 found that generative AI users accounted for 78.1% of the total last year. This is relatively low compared to search, messenger, place, and map services, which all post usage rates above 96%. However, when narrowed to users in their 20s, the usage rate rose to 92.6%.
Notably, multi-homing users who use two or more generative AI platforms accounted for 53.2% of the total. The average number of platforms used was two. ChatGPT had the highest usage rate at 68.1%, followed by Gemini at 13.8%. Services with the highest multi-homing ratios were e-commerce (83.9%), social media (79.9%), and search portals (76.9%).
The most common reasons cited for using multiple generative AI services were "wanting to try various services" (21.7%) and "different output results provided by each service" (19.4%).
The survey also captured a trend of generative AI gradually replacing search functions. More than six out of 10 users responded that "generative AI has replaced more than 50% of existing search functions." The proportion of respondents who said they "trust information or news obtained through generative AI" and that it "helps improve work and learning productivity" reached 47.1% and 76.4%, respectively.
Meanwhile, value-added telecommunications business revenue last year totaled 502.9 trillion won, up 15.3% from the previous year. Of this, digital platform revenue reached 161.5 trillion won (up 5.4% year-on-year), accounting for 32.1% of the total.
Among value-added telecom operators who reported using digital new technologies, AI technology was cited as the most widely used (41.6% response rate), followed by big data (33.8%) and cybersecurity technology (15.3%).
