hankyoreh

Educational materials for elementary school students published last year by the Korea Information Society Development Institute. The text asks students to watch two videos about deepfakes — one about bringing independence movement heroes “back to life” with deepfake technology, and another about deepfakes targeting teachers — before writing about whether they think that deepfake technology should be regulated by law. (from the KISDI)

“Should we be taking advantage of deepfake technology’s strong points? Or is it a technology we should simply avoid using? Discuss with your partner.”

A middle school artificial intelligence ethics textbook published last year by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) encouraged students to debate the merits of using deepfake technology, explaining that while it can be useful in areas such as the film industry, it can also be abused to commit crimes.

But the textbook did not include any mention of the harm or punishments when AI is used for criminal purposes.

Amid revelations that the majority of both victims and perpetrators of recent sexual crimes involving AI-based deepfakes have been minors, observers are raising the need for more sophisticated ethics education for young people who are already proficient with AI technology.

An examination Wednesday of a National Youth Policy Institute research report entitled “How to Cultivate Young Digital Minds” showed that even young people have been stressing the importance of their peer group receiving education on AI ethics.

One middle school student who participated in an in-depth interview explained, “There was a very brief thing about preventing deepfake crimes, but I’d like to see them making students more aware of the fact that this is a serious issue.”

Kim Myuhng-joo, a professor of information security studies at Seoul Women’s University, observed that South Korea is “currently facing the consequences of inadequate ethics education.”

Even the schools that have offered AI ethics instruction have limited themselves to raising questions such as “What would be the right response to deepfake videos being circulated falsely showing a politician surrendering during wartime?” and having students share their own thoughts or discuss the issue.

“We need to be clearly informing students of the consequences of breaking social rules, and what steps students harmed in these types of cases can take,” said Lee Cheong-hyeon, 34, who teaches information science at a high school in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Parents and youth education organizations argue that gender and sexuality education that’s been slashed since the current administration took office needs to be expanded in order to fundamentally combat the widespread culture of misogyny. 

A press conference was held by a coalition of parent groups urging for comprehensive action to end deepfake sex crimes outside the Seoul government complex on Wednesday. 

“The Ministry of Education deleted the terms ‘sex and gender minorities,’ ‘gender equality’ and ‘sexuality’ among others from their 2022 updated curriculum, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family slashed the budget for sex and human rights education programs to 0,” said Yeo Mi-ae of the Seoul chapter of the Parents for Realizing Equality Education. 

“It is no coincidence that this vast culture and norms of sexual exploitation persists from generation to generation,” she said. 

At another press conference put on by 32 education advocacy groups that day outside the National Assembly, those gathered called for the “strengthening of comprehensive sexuality education from a gender-sensitive standpoint at not some, but all schools” in Korea. 

By Ko Na-rin, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]