Big data-backed digital tutors are ready to arrive in South Korea as local education service provider Kyowon Co. is mulling to borrow IBM’s artificial intelligence Watson for home tutorial material.

The company said on Wednesday it aims to provide as many as 200,000 tablet PC software based on AI-enabled home tutoring learning by early next year. It is discussing the partnership terms with SK C&C, which owns the business rights for Watson in Korea.

Since May 2016, IBM and SK C&C have been developing a Korean learning program for Watson at IBM headquarters in Armonk, New York. Kyowon plans to apply this AI home tutor service to its main courseware Red Pen and introduce a math learning program for elementary school students.

The company expects that a cognitive computer will be especially helpful in providing feedback, exercising drills on weak points, and boosting student morale.

In 2015, Kyowon introduced Smart Red Pen, a digital textbook using tablet PCs. Two years later its members now top 200,000. “This AI project would be the result of Kyowon’s long and hard preparation in the area of smart education,” said a company official, adding that human instructors will first go through a trial period of using AI assistants in their lessons.

In September, Kyowon plans to upgrade its other courseware Kumon by harnessing big data analytics.

Watson’s machine learning ability is known to have vast potential not only in math but in English education as well. Earlier in February, SK C&C, together with its sister company SK Telecom, revealed an AI speaker capable of English conversation at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. The device - a collaboration between SK Telecom’s virtual assistant NUGU and SK C&C’s Watson-based AI service Aibril -is being trained not only to talk in English but also to teach it, according to SK C&C.

After it was first applied to insurance call centers early this year in Korea, IBM Watson has been rapidly moving into various industries. The cognitive computing system is already used in the medical sector and is expected to expand its applications to various industries including manufacturing, financial and retail sectors. Watson is expected to introduce Korean text services and run a pilot of voice services by early July.

By Oh Chan-jong

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