Korea launches culture-driven AI alliance with 214 members

The culture ministry launched an alliance on Thursday to steer artificial intelligence research toward the needs of content creators, with 214 members from 190 institutions taking part in its first edition.

The group, called the Culture-driven AI Tech Alliance, is intended to turn collaboration among companies, individual creators, academia and research institutions into concrete research and development priorities, the ministry said. It will operate from October through December.

Its 214 members include 18 individual creators and representatives of 4 large companies, 5 mid-sized enterprises, 118 small businesses, 34 academic and research organizations and 11 other institutions. They are divided into four divisions covering game interactive content, video and media content, music and performance content, and story source content.

The game division, anchored by Nexon Korea and Smilegate, will discuss how to make game development more efficient and deepen interaction with users. The video and media division, anchored by CJ ENM, CJ 4DPLEX, Megabox, MBN, SBS, EBS and KNN, will address more efficient AI-assisted video production and new viewing experiences.

Kakao Entertainment, SBS, Galaxy Corporation and others will examine how technology can support music creation, sound production and concert atmosphere in the music and performance division. The story source division, including Writer Company, MuHai and Hanteo Global, will look at helping creators plan narratives and extend original content across media.

A separate strategic planning group will run monthly meetings, with additional sessions as needed, to draw out detailed technical demand from the full membership. The ministry expects roughly 100 technology demand proposals from individual members and a seminar in December.

Projects identified through the alliance will be assessed for marketability, urgency and technical feasibility, then prioritized for inclusion in a medium- and long-term culture technology investment strategy and plans for new research and development programs in 2028.

The ministry said the alliance marks a shift from collecting technology demand from individual companies toward having companies, creators, academics and industry associations discuss field problems together and develop them into concrete research needs.

Choi said the direction of AI technology development should be driven by the demands of the cultural sector and the imagination of creators. "We will reflect the tasks that companies, creators and researchers find together in research and development policy, resolve problems in the field and lead them to new content and business opportunities," he said.

Ministers of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young visited participating members at the alliance's first meeting, held at the Eliena Hotel in Seoul's Gangnam District on Thursday afternoon. The culture ministry is pursuing the alliance jointly with the Korea Culture and Technology Planning Institute, a subsidiary of the Korea Creative Content Agency.