Seoul National University has established the Human Twin Intelligence research center to predict and simulate human behavior and decision-making in virtual environments. Its potential uses are drawing attention, including pre-validating advertising effectiveness and simulating policy acceptability.
The Seoul National University Artificial Intelligence Institute said on Apr. 10 that it will launch the Human Twin Intelligence research center. The center will focus on developing technologies and methodologies that digitally reproduce individual and group behavior to repeatedly test various scenarios. Professor Lee Sang-gu of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering will serve as director.
Human twin intelligence research is a new research paradigm that departs from conventional ex post, empirical approaches to predict and verify outcomes in the stage before policy and strategy formulation.
The center will pursue: ▲ development of inference models for individual disposition, cognition, and preferences based on behavioral data ▲ building a simulation framework for individual and group behavior under changing circumstances ▲ proposing alternative research methodologies that compensate for social response bias and ethical constraints ▲ constructing national-scale digital human twin databases ▲ applied research and service development across policy, industry, and society.
As research results accumulate, corporations are expected to immediately test new products or advertising proposals on large customer groups, and the government will be able to check the potential social ripple effects and risks of conflict before implementing policies. In education, potential uses have been suggested for customized mentoring that leverages collective intelligence.
Center Director Lee Sang-gu said, "The knowledge about humans and society accumulated in large Generative AI offers new opportunities to predict and explain human behavior," and "it will bring changes across diverse fields such as marketing, public policy, elections, and social psychology."
Institute Director Lee Jae-uk said, "This kind of leading convergent research will become our technological asset to prepare for the rapidly approaching AI-centered era."
In addition to Professor Lee Sang-gu (computer science and engineering), the center's participating researchers include Chu Ho-jung (clothing and textiles), Park Won-ho (political science), Park Jin-su and Song In-seong (business administration), Lee Yu-ri (clothing and textiles), Lee Young-gi (computer science and engineering), Lee Jun-hwan and Han Gyu-seop (journalism and mass communication), Jeong Sang-jo (law), and Choi In-cheol (psychology). Related corporations and institutions are also expected to join as external advisory members.