'Focused Diagnosis on AI Textbooks' National Assembly Forum Held
8 Democratic Party Members of the National Assembly Education Committee Attended
Professor Maeng Seong-hyun: "Introducing AI Textbooks is Premature"'
Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea, hosted a forum titled 'AI Digital Textbook (AI Textbook) National Assembly Intensive Diagnosis.' AI textbooks will be introduced next year for some subjects targeting 3rd and 4th graders in elementary school, 1st graders in middle school, and 1st graders in high school.
At the forum held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 6th, Assemblywoman Jin said, "There are many controversies regarding the introduction of AI textbooks," and added, "Instead of rushing to claim to be the world's first, careful and thorough review and sufficient social consensus are necessary." She emphasized, "We will strive to reflect the various opinions raised at today's forum in policy." Attending the forum were Democratic Party members Kim Young-ho, Chair of the Education Committee, and Assembly members Go Min-jeong, Moon Jeong-bok, Kim Moon-soo, Kim Jun-hyeok, Baek Seung-ah, and Jeong Eu-ho.
On the morning of the 6th, members of the Democratic Party belonging to the National Assembly Education Committee attended the 'AI Digital Textbook National Assembly Intensive Diagnosis' discussion held at the National Assembly. [Photo by Jin Sun-mi]
The forum participants generally expressed concerns about the AI textbook introduction policy. Professor Maeng Seong-hyun from the Department of Computer Science at KAIST, who gave a presentation, said, "Introducing AI textbooks in 2025 is premature under the current circumstances," adding, "Before implementing the system, it is necessary to check whether students, teachers, school facilities, and operating budgets are properly prepared." He further stated, "Since even a small problem cannot be undone, the plan must be made very precisely and carried out carefully."
Baek Seung-jin, a high school teacher in Cheongju, Chungbuk, said, "If classes use AI textbooks, teachers will not be walking around the classroom communicating with students but will have to keep looking at students' data in front of a dashboard." Furthermore, he argued that "it will block communication between teachers and students."
On the other hand, Professor Lee Kyung-jeon of Kyung Hee University's College of Business said, "Even if there are problems at first, they can be fixed while using it," and positively predicted, "AI textbooks will provide great help to poor and less motivated students and those with low performance." He added, "It has already been verified in private education, so saying we should not use it in public education is unreasonable," and stated, "The remaining issue seems to be whether to adopt it fully or selectively."
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