Then-Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Lee Joo-ho announces the AI digital textbook initiative on June 8, 2023. The program collapsed after the declaration of martial law in 2024 and the subsequent impeachment proceedings and presidential election in 2025. Textbook publishers that had joined the project have now filed a damages lawsuit against the government, with the claim reportedly valued at around 200 billion won ($129 million). [Yonhap]
Then-Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Lee Joo-ho announces the AI digital textbook initiative on June 8, 2023. The program collapsed after the declaration of martial law in 2024 and the subsequent impeachment proceedings and presidential election in 2025. Textbook publishers that had joined the project have now filed a damages lawsuit against the government, with the claim reportedly valued at around 200 billion won ($129 million). [Yonhap]

Publishers sue state over AI textbook reversal

Stripped of textbook status, adoption rates collapsed — restructuring and exits followed

With constitutional challenge expected to drag on, civil suit targets direct compensation

A government initiative to introduce AI-powered digital textbooks, marketed as a tool for one-on-one personalized learning, has ended up in court three years after its launch. Publishers that invested in developing the textbooks, building platforms and expanding their workforces based on government assurances have seen those investments turn into real losses after the program lost its legal status as a textbook. The companies had already filed a constitutional complaint, but with a ruling not expected for at least two years, they have now launched a separate civil suit seeking monetary compensation for their losses.

According to education industry and legal sources, more than 10 textbook publishers — including YBM, Dong-A Publishing, i-Scream Media, Visang Education, NE Neungyule, Kumsung Publishing, Kyohaksa and Gyomunsa — filed a damages claim worth 200 billion won ($129 million) against the Ministry of Education at the Seoul Central District Court on June 23. Kim & Chang and Bae, Kim & Lee LLC are representing the plaintiffs. It is the first time publishers have filed a civil suit seeking damages separately from the constitutional challenge over the program's legal status.

The publishers had initially agreed not to disclose the filing publicly, sources said. Industry observers say the companies were reluctant to be seen in open confrontation with the Education Ministry, provincial education offices and schools — institutions they still depend on for ongoing business. "There was a general sense that legal action was unavoidable, but given the nature of working with schools, an all-out fight felt uncomfortable," one industry official said.

The AI digital textbook program, known by its Korean acronym AIDT, took shape in June 2023 when the Education Ministry unveiled its implementation plan. The ministry said it would introduce the textbooks first in mathematics, English, information technology and special-education Korean-language classes starting in 2025, then expand to Korean language, social studies, history, science, technology and home economics by 2028. A 2024 report by the National Assembly Research Service estimated that student subscription fees for AIDT between 2025 and 2028 could range from a minimum of 1.93 trillion won to a maximum of 6.62 trillion won. A subsequent audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection found that budget spending on AIDT preparation between 2023 and 2025 totaled 1.41 trillion won.

The government had positioned AIDT as the centerpiece of public education reform — a system that would analyze each student's learning level and pace to deliver tailored instruction, with teachers using the resulting data to guide their students. But the rollout drew criticism from the start. Teachers, schools and civic groups raised concerns about teacher training, device infrastructure, personal data protection, subscription costs and evaluation standards. The Board of Audit and Inspection later found that the ministry had skipped a pilot phase, conducted insufficient field-suitability reviews and issued certification notices before technical standards had been established.

Much of the damage to publishers stemmed from a change in the program's legal classification. In August 2025, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reclassifying AIDT from a textbook to supplementary educational material. As a textbook, schools were required to use it; as supplementary material, adoption became optional. For publishers, that shift dramatically reduced the size of the addressable market and their prospects of recouping their investments.

Actual adoption fell well short of expectations. After the Education Ministry shifted from mandatory rollout to a school-choice model, the adoption rate stalled in the 30 percent range. An audit found that among schools that did adopt AIDT between March and May 2025, only an average of 8.1 percent of students — across grade levels and subjects — used the platform for 10 or more days. On average, 60 percent of students never logged in at all.

Publishers say they invested in good faith based on government policy, and that policy reversals caused their losses. The industry has put its total private investment at 800 billion won, covering not only development costs but also learning-data design, content production, platform construction, certification preparation, and the hiring of sales and operations staff. The joint lawsuit is valued at around 200 billion won, though individual claims could grow depending on how each company calculates its losses. Chunjae Education, said to have suffered among the largest losses, is separately preparing its own civil suit.

The fallout has also hit employment. Chunjae Textbook launched a restructuring in March centered on its digital learning service "Milkti," with internal sources saying the cuts could run into the hundreds of workers; the company said mounting losses from the AIDT policy shift made workforce streamlining unavoidable. i-Scream Edu and Visang Education have also pursued voluntary redundancies, business unit reductions and staff reassignments. Woongjin Thinkbig decided to exit the AIDT business entirely, citing policy uncertainty.

The publishers filed a constitutional complaint last November, arguing that the legal amendment reclassifying AIDT as supplementary material violated the principles of protection of trust and proportionality. That case, however, is not expected to reach a conclusion for at least two years — a timeline that has fueled concern within the industry that the constitutional route offers little practical relief. The central question in the civil suit will be how far the courts are willing to go in recognizing the losses of private companies that acted on the government's word.


hong@heraldcorp.com