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In South Korea, plans to introduce digital textbooks equipped with artificial intelligence to schools have sparked a backlash from parents and academics who worry that children will be overexposed to digital devices and exposed to misinformation.
Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said this week that AI-enabled tablets were the “cornerstone” of plans to overhaul South Korea's school system, with the technology due to be introduced into classes for eight-year-olds next year.
But the proposal, which the South Korean government says is a world first, has already met with opposition from many parents who are concerned about the amount of time their children spend on smartphones and tablets.
South Korea consistently ranks among the top performers in OECD international learning assessments, but the government worries that its tradition of emphasising rote learning is stifling innovation at a time when it is trying to reduce reliance on traditional manufacturing.
“Everyone can agree that we need to move away from one-way, memorization-based teaching to an environment where students are more actively involved and take ownership of their learning,” Lee said. “2025 is a crucial year for that change, and we need to use AI textbooks to help teachers transform their classrooms.”
According to South Korea's Ministry of Education, the tablets are customisable and software can assess “fast and slow learners” and give them AI-generated tasks of varying difficulty.
But the government has offered few details about how exactly the digital textbooks and other AI-powered educational tools being developed by South Korean tech companies such as LG and Samsung will work, or how the systems will guard against AI's tendency to “hallucinate” or produce errors.
AI apps will be implemented in all subjects except music, art, physical education and ethics by 2028, with teachers monitoring activity through digital dashboards, and students will be taught digital literacy lessons to help them adopt AI tools responsibly.
“AI textbooks will enable teachers to assess each student's learning level and pace based on student data and provide education tailored to each student,” a government official said.
“Many students tend to fall asleep during classes. Some have already learned the content in cram schools, while others are struggling to keep up with the classes,” the official added. “The AI textbook will provide diverse content for all situations, stimulate students' interest in learning and help them think creatively, so that they will (soon) be able to think outside the box.”
Other AI tools in South Korean classrooms include a program that transcribes what a teacher says onto an electronic whiteboard as it roams the room, and the country is also testing a mobile robot that provides AI-generated answers to students' questions.
But many observers remain wary of the government's proposal. Shin Gwang-yeon, a sociology professor at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, said the government is trying to introduce AI textbooks “too hastily and without properly assessing the side effects, simply because AI is a megatrend these days.”
More than 50,000 parents have signed a petition calling on the government to step up its attention to students' overall well-being. “We as parents are already facing unprecedented levels of challenges resulting from[our children's]exposure to digital devices,” the petition reads.
Lee Seung-yeon, a 41-year-old Seoul resident and mother of two school-age sons, said she would rather see more after-school teaching jobs to help students than AI textbooks.
“I worry that excessive use of digital devices will have a negative impact on children's brain development, concentration and problem-solving skills. Children are already using smartphones and tablets too much,” she said.
Still, the South Korean government's introduction of AI textbooks has been welcomed by many teachers, with 54% of public school teachers surveyed by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Union expressing support.
South Korea's move bucks a trend in other developed countries where governments are trying to restrict or roll back children's use of smartphones and tablets in schools.
Singh said AI in the classroom risks “getting out of control” due to the potential for the spread of misinformation, plagiarism and the leaking of students' personal information.
The education system, including examination methods, needed to be “properly” overhauled to address legitimate concerns about rote learning, Singh added.
