From creating virtual idols to investment consultations ... ‘AI Content Festival’ opens on the 12th

[Financial News] A festival where visitors can plan dramas using artificial intelligence (AI) and create K-pop virtual idols is opening. For the first time this year, a venue will also be set up for AI content companies to meet with investors and co-production partners.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 9th, the ministry and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) will hold ‘AI Content Festival 2026’ from the 12th to the 14th at The Platz on the second floor of COEX in Gangnam District, Seoul. Launched in 2024, the event is being held for the third time this year.
On the 12th and 13th, COEX Startup Branch will host one-on-one consultations with investment professionals from Korea and abroad, presentations on participating companies’ content and technology, and networking events for companies.
KidariStudio, MBC C&I, DaeKyo Investment and others will first outline their respective needs, including video production using AI, joint production of extended reality (XR) content, and investment in promising content companies. Companies with technology or content that meets those needs will then propose collaborations.
The exhibition space is divided into four themes: viewing, hands-on experiences, creation, and industry convergence. It will showcase AI-based video, music and games. MBC C&I, which completed a feature film using generative AI, will lead a hands-on workshop in drama planning and production, while Jiro will lead a workshop on creating K-pop virtual idols.
Video, virtual reality (VR), XR and game works by creators who took part in the AI-focused Content Academy will also be exhibited. On the 13th, Megabox COEX will screen, in connection with the event, video works produced through an AI content talent development program, including ‘Plica and Luu (Little Light)’ and ‘The Eve of the Crime.’
The talks and discussion sessions have been extended from two days last year to three. On the opening day, the 12th, Rando Kim, an honorary professor at Seoul National University, will forecast changes in content consumption patterns and the future of the industry in the AI era. Go Sam-seok, a distinguished professor at Dongguk University, and others will discuss AI’s impact on content creation and distribution and on revenue structures. They will also address how content investment criteria are changing in the AI era.
A talk for creators on the 13th will introduce CJ 4DPLEX’s video production process for ScreenX and examples of its use of AI. Changes in talent development and content production systems in the AI era will also be discussed.
On the 14th, science content creator Orbit and Pyo Chang-won, director of the Pyo Chang-won Institute of Crime Science, will give talks on future occupations and the ethics of using technology. Magic and music performances incorporating AI will also take place.
Kim Kyung-hwa, director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Cultural Industry and Media Policy Bureau, said, “In the age of artificial intelligence, the competitiveness of the content industry lies not only in technological advancement, but in connecting it to new forms of creation and industrial value.”
The exhibition and hands-on activities are free. Advance registration is available on the event’s official website through the 11th. Schedules and registration procedures for each program can also be found there.
[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter