Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, noted on the 26th regarding the passage of a related bill defining artificial intelligence (AI) digital textbooks as "educational materials," driven by the opposition, that "I will propose a reconsideration request."
On this day, Deputy Prime Minister Lee released a statement expressing concerns about potential confusion in schools and society as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendment was approved.
On this day, the opposition passed the amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which defines AI textbooks as educational materials in the National Assembly main session. The implementation of the amendment will take effect immediately after promulgation.
The amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act explicitly defines the meaning and scope of textbooks in the law, restricting them to books and e-books, and designates AI textbooks as "educational materials." In this amendment, e-books are publications containing textbook content in recordings, videos, or electronic media that students can read, view, or listen to using computers or other information processing devices, but "AI textbooks are not considered applicable."
Additionally, the amendment includes provisions that allow textbooks designated by the Minister of Education to be used instead of textbooks or guides, subject to the deliberation of the school steering committee. The previous requirement for schools to use textbooks either copyrighted by the state or certified or approved by the Minister of Education has been revised. Ultimately, the use of AI textbooks is at the discretion of the school principal.
The amendment passed on this day is retroactively applicable to AI textbooks that have already passed certification. The Ministry of Education's plan to uniformly introduce AI textbooks in English, mathematics, and information courses for third to fourth graders in elementary school, first-year middle school students, and first-year high school students is expected to face inevitable setbacks.
Some speculate that the textbook industry, which has been developing related textbooks in response to the policy for introducing AI textbooks next year, may pursue litigation. The development expense for AI textbooks is reported to be at least 3 billion won per subject.