South Korean companies rank among the global leaders in AI maturity, exceeding the United States and Japan, but trust in AI results and management systems still remain challenges, a survey found.

Global collaboration platform Notion on Wednesday announced findings from its "Global AI Transformation Study 2026," based on a survey of 6,118 corporate leaders and practitioners across 16 markets worldwide.

The survey showed 15.7% of organizations in South Korea are in advanced stages where AI autonomously performs repetitive tasks or handles complex work, at levels 3 to 4, above the global average of 12.4%. It ranked among the global top tier after Singapore, and was higher than the United States and Japan at 11% each.

Some 76.1% of South Korean leaders said, "If AI adoption is delayed, we could fall behind competitors," showing a higher sense of urgency than the global average of 61.9%. Leaders who expressed confidence in their organization’s AI capabilities stood at 34.8%, while practitioners were at 15.3%.

Respondents strongly felt productivity gains from AI. Some 46.7% of South Korean practitioners said they save more than 1 hour of work time per day by using AI.

By contrast, 52.7% said it is hard to trust results generated by AI, higher than the global average. Concern over "shadow AI," the use of unapproved AI tools, was also 66.6%, well above the global average of 40.4%.

Notion analysed that South Korean companies next need an integrated system linking AI to existing work environments and the establishment of clear governance.

Daesung Park (박대성), head of Notion Korea, said, "The next task for South Korean companies is to connect AI to the organization’s documents and data, and work flows." He said, "Based on integration and governance, they must turn the advantage in AI adoption into sustainable competitiveness."