AI textbook law sparks backlash

[Anchor]

A law that recognizes AI textbooks only as educational materials, rather than as textbooks, has passed, leading to significant backlash from private development companies.

They have stated that they will pursue legal action, claiming they will incur losses amounting to hundreds of billions of won.

Go Ah-reum reports.

[Report]

[“Maintain the status of textbooks! (Maintain it, maintain it, maintain it.)”]

Just two days after the passage of the amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, representatives from textbook publishing companies gathered in one place.

They are feeling a sense of crisis as AI textbooks have been downgraded to educational materials.

[Lee Wook-sang/CEO of Dong-A Publishing: “Let’s use (AI textbooks) and then decide. It’s a shame to discard this valuable resource without even trying it.”]

The AI textbooks, which were introduced into the education field for the first time this year, were initially pushed for mandatory adoption by the Yoon Suk Yeol government. However, due to doubts about their educational effectiveness and backlash over a lack of preparation, they were changed to voluntary adoption just before the start of the last semester.

Only about 3 out of 10 schools adopted digital textbooks in the first semester.

The actual utilization rate has dropped further due to repeated connectivity issues and device errors.

With the passage of this amendment, the AI textbook project is now likely to be effectively nullified.

Support for subscription fees, which had been budgeted for textbooks, has also become impossible.

The fluctuating policies are causing confusion in the education field.

[Middle School Teacher/Voice Altered: “Since the status has changed to (educational materials), I think we need to get consent forms for personal information collection again, but the new semester starts in just a week…”]

Textbook publishers have stated that developing AI textbooks cost 800 billion won and have announced plans to pursue legal action against the government for damages and constitutional complaints.

This is KBS News, Go Ah-reum reporting.