Network brings together AI and education experts

Aims to expand to all schools nationwide by 2027

Officials gather at Kakao AI Campus to launch an AI and education expert network for the next generation. Pictured from left: Ok Hyun-jin, professor at Ewha Womans University; Kim Bong-je, professor at Seoul National University of Education; Jung Chang-woo, professor at Seoul National University; Ryu Seok-young, chairman of Kakao Impact; Kim Eun-sol, professor at Hanyang University; Yuk Sim-na, secretary-general of Kakao Impact; and Lee Sang-wook, professor at Hanyang University. [Kakao]
Officials gather at Kakao AI Campus to launch an AI and education expert network for the next generation. Pictured from left: Ok Hyun-jin, professor at Ewha Womans University; Kim Bong-je, professor at Seoul National University of Education; Jung Chang-woo, professor at Seoul National University; Ryu Seok-young, chairman of Kakao Impact; Kim Eun-sol, professor at Hanyang University; Yuk Sim-na, secretary-general of Kakao Impact; and Lee Sang-wook, professor at Hanyang University. [Kakao]

The Kakao Impact Foundation launched an expert network called the "Saijoeun AI Network" on Tuesday at Kakao AI Campus to build a framework for AI citizenship education, the foundation announced Wednesday.

The foundation will expand "Saijoeun Digital World," a youth digital citizenship education program it has run for 11 years since 2015, into the AI domain. Through this effort, it will develop a new "AI citizenship education" model designed to help young people build the competencies they need to use AI responsibly.

The new AI citizenship education model builds on the seven core competencies of the existing digital citizenship framework — emotional awareness and empathy, digital etiquette, cyberbullying prevention, digital and AI literacy, personal data protection, copyright and online identity — and adds two competencies central to the AI era: metacognition and resilience.

The foundation intends to distinguish AI citizenship education from instruction focused simply on how to use technology or generative AI tools. The Saijoeun AI Network was formed with experts in AI and education to reflect a balanced perspective across both fields, and will operate through two tiers: advisory members and specialist members.

Advisory members will counsel the network on educational direction and key challenges from a technology standpoint, while specialist members will research education models and curricula for use in schools. The research will proceed through industry-academic partnerships with Seoul National University, Ewha Womans University and Seoul National University of Education, with specialist members from each institution leading the work.

Advisory members include Ryu Seok-young, chairman of Kakao Impact and a professor in the School of Computing at KAIST; Lee Sang-wook, a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence at Hanyang University and a member of the AI Social Policy Forum; Kim Eun-sol, a professor in the School of Computer Science at Hanyang University who previously worked with Kakao's large-scale AI joint research team; and Kim Ju-ho, a professor in the School of Computing at KAIST and a member of the UN AI Science Panel.

Specialist members include Jung Chang-woo, a professor in the Department of Ethics Education at Seoul National University and former director of the university's Character Education Research Center; Ok Hyun-jin, a professor in the Department of Elementary Education at Ewha Womans University and director of the Ministry of Education's "Questioning Schools" research and support center; and Kim Bong-je, a professor in the Department of Ethics Education at Seoul National University of Education and director of the university's AI Value Judgment Design Center.

Drawing on the expert network and joint research with each partner university, the foundation plans to define the concept and core competencies of AI citizenship and develop them into a curriculum for use in actual school settings.

This year, the foundation will run the existing Saijoeun Digital World program across 1,000 classrooms nationwide, reaching about 20,000 students. In October, it plans to hold a symposium where it will publicly unveil for the first time its AI citizenship education model and an AI citizenship competency measurement tool, to be known as AQ.

The foundation will then conduct a pilot program in schools from November through December, before rolling out AI citizenship education nationwide in earnest starting in 2027.

"In the AI era, citizenship — the ability to understand AI correctly and use it responsibly — matters even more than the technical skill to operate it," said Ryu, the Kakao Impact chairman. "Building on 11 years of experience in digital citizenship education, we will develop an AI citizenship education model that schools can put to practical use."


woo@heraldcorp.com