South Korea Artificial Intelligence in Public Schools

In February 2023, Korea’s Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced a new initiative for personalized education using artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology. Recently, the Korean government announced plans to invest $69.3 million by 2026 to develop digital classroom infrastructure. An additional $43.2 million will be allocated to help 6,000 primary and secondary schools nationwide to set up a monitoring system for AI textbooks and to train 1,200 digital tutors to manage digital devices effectively.

In anticipation of upcoming announcements on digital textbooks, collaborations are growing among publishing companies, EdTech, and IT firms in Korea. These partnerships combine the publishing expertise with the AI technology capabilities of EdTech companies. The focus is primarily on adopting AI technologies such as Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Extended Virtual Worlds (Metaverse), Extended Reality (XR), Conversational AI, and Speech Recognition into existing textbooks.

U.S. educational technology firms, publishing companies, digital content creators, and IT solution providers have opportunities to partner with Korean entities by establishing consortiums, service and platform sales agreements, licensing, and joint development projects. When exploring the Korean EdTech market, U.S. exporters should consider factors such as Korea’s unique education system, conservative policies, limited acceptance of foreign technology, and the market’s rapid growth accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Partnering with established Korean entities offers advantages like developing content localization expertise, gaining market insights and familiarity with the regulatory environment and the public bidding process.

For more information contact the U.S. Commercial Service in Korea:
office.seoul@trade.gov
https://www.trade.gov/south-korea