update emp_id column with 1 billion records
Only 2 steps:
ALTER TABLE emp DROP COLUMN emp_id;
ALTER TABLE emp ADD (emp_id NUMBER GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY);
db<>fiddle here
Again, 2 steps:
CREATE SEQUENCE emp__emp_id__seq;
UPDATE emp
SET emp_id = emp__emp_id__seq.NEXTVAL;
db<>fiddle here
One step:
If you have overwritten the column data then either ROLLBACK
the last transaction or restore the data from backups.
The emp_id column is totally null and I have to fill it with unique values.
If you want to do it one-time-only, then just one step would do:
update emp set emp_id = rownum;
and that column will have unique values. You don't need PL/SQL (but be patient as 1 billion rows is quite a lot, it'll take time).
If you want to automatically populate it in the future, then it depends on database version you use. Before 12c, you'll have to use a sequence and a database trigger. In later versions, you can still use the same (sequence + trigger) or - as MT0 showed - identity column.