Guro-gu announced it will run a three-month pilot of Athena, a generative AI-powered book recommendation service, at the Guro Culture Nuri Library from Aug. 10 through Oct. 10.
Developed in partnership with Ubidus System, the pilot is a next-generation library service that analyzes each user's reading habits and interests to suggest personalized titles. Unlike conventional approaches — such as popularity rankings or genre-based searches — the service focuses on crafting an optimized reading experience for each individual.
The service operates in two formats. A kiosk called Athena Public, installed on the third floor of the library's Jihye Nuri 1 space, lets visitors scan a book to instantly receive a summary of its key themes and mood — displayed as hashtags — along with a curated list of related titles.
Alongside this, Athena Personal is accessible anytime, anywhere via a user's own smartphone. Through a conversation with the AI librarian, it analyzes the user's current reading state, preferred writing style and concentration level to recommend the book best suited to them at that moment.
Notably, Athena is designed to guard against the information distortion that can affect generative AI by drawing its responses from actual book data and verified sources. Recommendations also grow more precise the longer a user engages in conversation.
The pilot is free of charge and open to all library visitors. Feedback submitted during the service will be incorporated into future improvements.
"Through this pilot, we plan to offer library visitors a new reading experience and analyze real usage data as foundational material for introducing AI services at public libraries going forward," a Guro-gu official said. "We hope everyone who visits the library will enjoy the special experience of finding their own book, as recommended by an AI librarian."
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