If the AI Textbook with 2 Trillion Invested Fails, 36,000 Livelihoods Threatened

[Financial News] The AI (Artificial Intelligence) digital textbook, which has received more than 2 trillion won in investment, is at risk of being downgraded from a textbook to educational material. On the 10th, the National Assembly's Education Committee processed an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act related to this in a plenary session, threatening the livelihoods of more than 36,000 industry workers due to restructuring.
AI textbook publishers and the Textbook Development Committee held a press conference at the Irum Center in Yeouido, Seoul on the 11th, urging, "The attempt to change the status of AI textbooks, which have already been reviewed and supplied, must be immediately stopped, and discussions on amending the law for quality improvement and function supplementation should take place." They also argued, "A 'Public-Private-Government Education Innovation Task Force' involving the government, National Assembly, publishers, teachers, and experts must be immediately formed to institutionalize communication and coordination." They declared that if these demands are not met, they will proceed with constitutional complaints and administrative lawsuits.
The amendment passed by the National Assembly's Education Committee specifies the definition of educational books in the law rather than in the enforcement ordinance and stipulates that forms like AI textbooks fall under 'educational materials' rather than 'textbooks.'
If the status changes to educational materials, unlike textbooks, where purchase or use budgets are mandatorily supported, the decision on whether to support them is made selectively by the education office. In other words, if the education office does not support them, the costs must be covered by each school's budget. This effectively means the AI textbook policy is being scrapped.
The amendment is expected to pass the National Assembly's plenary session as well, increasing the likelihood that the Lee Jae-myung administration will lose the status of AI textbooks.
In a joint statement, they said, "It is a retrospective denial of the status of textbooks that are being adopted and used, raising issues of retroactive legislation and potential unconstitutionality," and warned that if the National Assembly continues with the legislative process, "we will use all legal means, including constitutional complaints and administrative lawsuits." Currently, YBM and Cheonjae Education, and Cheonjae Textbook are already proceeding with administrative lawsuits against the government.
They said, "We trusted the government's education policy and came this far, but trust has plummeted," and questioned, "What private company can now form a consortium in line with government policy?"
Park Jung-gwa, CEO of Cheonjae Textbook, said, "5.3 trillion won of national funds were invested in building the AI textbook infrastructure, and publishers invested an additional 400 billion won per textbook, totaling 800 billion won," and appealed, "If the development costs are not recovered, restructuring is inevitable."
Jung Yong-hwan, CEO of YBM, argued, "Comparing old black-and-white TVs with color TVs, which is better for student education, paper books or AI textbooks?" He added, "If the amendment passes, Korean education will regress by more than 10 years."
They also explained, "AI digital textbooks are a decisive opportunity for South Korea to lead the world in the education AI field and a very important foundation for securing dominance in the global AI competition." They particularly mentioned, "In a situation where the Lee Jae-myung administration has declared the AI top three nations and is promoting a 100 trillion won AI industry nurturing policy, the reality that AI digital textbooks, the core of the education sector, are excluded from the center of policy will cause confusion among many citizens."
The AI textbook was a project promoted by the previous administration, and it was decided to be fully introduced in March this year for 3rd and 4th graders in elementary school, 1st graders in middle school, and 1st graders in high school for English, math, and information subjects. However, due to lack of verification and issues with procedures required for partial introduction, the plan was changed to allow each school to introduce it autonomously. Legally, the status of a textbook is still maintained, and the review of new AI textbooks to be introduced in the first semester of next year has been underway since the 13th of last month. A total of 74 textbooks from 12 companies have been submitted for review. Most companies passed the first review announced on the 4th.

monarch@fnnews.com Kim Man-gi Reporter