SKT-Korea Disabled People's Federation Jointly Hosts
'Happy AI Coding School' on 17th-18th
SK Telecom jointly held the 'Happiness AI Coding Challenge' on the 17th and 18th at the SK Telecom Talent Development Center located in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, together with the Korea Federation of Organizations of the Disabled.
The Happiness AI Coding Challenge is a competition hosted by SKT for 25 years since starting the Information Search Competition for Disabled Youth in 1999, aimed at bridging the digital divide for disabled youth. This year, the event was planned to support participants in becoming creative talents equipped with core technological capabilities in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
To enhance various AI utilization skills, teams consisting of two students and one supervising teacher competed by completing assigned tasks against other teams.
There were five categories in total: ▲ 'Happiness AI Challenge' and 'Dream Challenge,' which involve writing song lyrics and generating images using AI ▲ 'Social Challenge' and 'Mission Challenge,' which are card coding and mission games using coding robots ▲ and the 'Cultural Heritage A.Dot Scholarship Quiz,' which tests knowledge of cultural heritage.
Each challenge program was designed to test participants' AI coding skills by having them create lyrics matching the theme using SKT’s AI service 'A.Dot' multi-large language model (LLM) agent, solve quizzes issued by A.Dot, and complete missions with coding robots. During the competition, the world’s first hearing-impaired idol group 'Big Ocean' performed a congratulatory show, along with a performance by the Einsbaum Art Troupe.
As a result of the final competition, students such as Jomin-gyu and Go Jun-hyeok, Jang Seong-hyeok and Park Jong-gwon, and Im Chae-ho and Bae Yeon-hu received awards from the Minister of Education, the Minister of Science and ICT, and the Minister of Health and Welfare, respectively. Notably, the winning work of the Happiness AI Challenge is planned to be produced as a music track with expert assistance in the future.
Since 2019, SKT has been operating the Happiness AI Coding School at over 130 special schools nationwide and developing coding education materials tailored to different types of disabilities, showing a strong commitment to ICT education for disabled youth.
The beginner course materials include basic software education using coding robots, while the advanced course materials cover programming languages such as Python, supporting students in developing practical AI development capabilities. This year, marking SKT’s 40th anniversary, SKT employees participated as volunteer instructors in the Happiness AI Coding School, contributing to the enhancement of AI capabilities among disabled youth.
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