Professor Ko Proposes K-Content and AI Strategy

Ko Sam-seok, a distinguished professor at Dongguk University’s College of Advanced Convergence, a member of the National AI Strategy Committee’s Social Affairs Subcommittee, and an adviser to the National Assembly speaker, called for K-content promotion and AI industry development to be pursued as one national strategy. He made the remarks in a keynote on the fourth in Incheon at ICNX 2026, an entertainment technology industry event organized by Incheon Metropolitan City and Incheon Technopark. His talk was titled “Why Should K-Content and AI Be One National Strategy?”

Ko said AI increases content productivity and reach, while content strengthens AI’s commercial value and cultural influence. He said the two industries are co-evolving to create new intellectual property (IP), business models and global markets. In his analysis, the United States is focused on combining AI technology with content IP, China on industrializing AI content at scale, and the United Kingdom on developing AI-based creative technology industries.

Ko said South Korea should build an entertainment technology ecosystem by combining entertainment and technology, drawing on K-culture’s originality and global fandom. He also recommended that the government’s AI-based cultural powerhouse strategy, included in its “National AI Action Plan,” expand beyond using AI to transform existing content production and distribution, toward developing new industries, building an ecosystem and expanding globally.

Referring to a co-evolution strategy in his book “Next Hallyu,” published last year, Ko said South Korea needs an open global ecosystem where domestic and overseas companies and creators jointly plan and produce content, then share the results, rather than stopping at content exports. He said the key question is now what to combine and how, and emphasized that government policy innovation and private-sector entertainment technology innovation must advance together.

Ko Sam-seok, a distinguished professor at Dongguk University’s College of Advanced Convergence, a member of the National AI Strategy Committee’s Social Affairs Subcommittee, and an adviser to the National Assembly speaker, called for K-content promotion and AI industry development to be pursued as one national strategy. He made the remarks in a keynote on the fourth in Incheon at ICNX 2026, an entertainment technology industry event organized by Incheon Metropolitan City and Incheon Technopark. His talk was titled “Why Should K-Content and AI Be One National Strategy?”

Ko said AI increases content productivity and reach, while content strengthens AI’s commercial value and cultural influence. He said the two industries are co-evolving to create new intellectual property (IP), business models and global markets. In his analysis, the United States is focused on combining AI technology with content IP, China on industrializing AI content at scale, and the United Kingdom on developing AI-based creative technology industries.

Ko said South Korea should build an entertainment technology ecosystem by combining entertainment and technology, drawing on K-culture’s originality and global fandom. He also recommended that the government’s AI-based cultural powerhouse strategy, included in its “National AI Action Plan,” expand beyond using AI to transform existing content production and distribution, toward developing new industries, building an ecosystem and expanding globally.

Referring to a co-evolution strategy in his book “Next Hallyu,” published last year, Ko said South Korea needs an open global ecosystem where domestic and overseas companies and creators jointly plan and produce content, then share the results, rather than stopping at content exports. He said the key question is now what to combine and how, and emphasized that government policy innovation and private-sector entertainment technology innovation must advance together.