South Korea plan for AI textbooks receives backlash

A plan by South Korea to introduce AI-powered digital textbooks sparked a major backlash from parents and educators. 

Set to begin in 2025, South Korea's plan is to introduce tablet-based textbooks for subjects such as maths, English, informatics and Korean. The programme would expand in 2028 to include subjects like Korean, social studies, history, science, and technology/home economics. 

According to Seoul, the AI textbooks will be designed to adapt to different learning speeds, with teachers monitoring student progress through dashboards. They are seen to bring benefits such as offering customised learning content tailored to individual student data and enhancing their personalised learning experience.

However, parents and critics expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts on children's development and the over-reliance on digital devices. Over 56,000 parents signed a petition on the National Assembly’s online platform opposing over-exposure to digital devices,