From fighting software piracy to protecting children with AI

A career spent tracking illegal activity online has taken on a new purpose in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

For nearly two decades, Choi Seung-hyun worked in software license compliance and anti-piracy, including stints with Adobe, Microsoft, the Business Software Alliance and PTC.

Now, the DragonEyes CEO is using that experience to develop an AI agent designed to find harmful online content and help protect children.

“My 20 years in software license compliance were a major inspiration for DragonEyes,” Choi told The Korea Times in an interview. “It started with a question I had as a compliance professional about how we could tackle harmful content online. That eventually led me to develop an AI agent.”

The idea became personal in November 2025, when Choi read about a multinational game company in the United States facing investigations over its handling of harmful online content. Some cases had raised concerns about child abuse.

Choi, whose two sons were then in high school and elementary school, began looking at the issue as both a parent and a compliance expert.

“As a father, I couldn’t help but pay attention,” he said. “I started looking closely at those cases from a compliance perspective, and I think that was when I began thinking seriously about harmful online content.”

After three months of planning, Choi began developing DragonEyes in February and unveiled it six months later at a National Assembly seminar on Aug. 25.

DragonEyes uses AI to search for and analyze potentially harmful content, but leaves the final decision to a human reviewer.

Choi, who studied law rather than engineering, said the structure reflects his view of technology.

“Law, society and technology should all ultimately put people at the center,” he said. “The purpose of DragonEyes is, in the end, to protect people and make their lives better.”

That human role led Choi to consider turning content review into jobs for people with disabilities and older adults.

It was not part of his original plan. Choi initially wondered who could do the reviewing and how the work could be funded.

Conversations with Kwon Chan, a former Microsoft colleague and former vice president of ChorogUsan for Children, had also made him aware of the shortage of stable, accessible jobs for people with disabilities.

Choi is reluctant to dress the idea up in showy language.

“‘Digital humanism’ sounds a little too grand for me,” he said. “I think of AI more as a reliable friend — something that helps us with the things that are inconvenient or tedious to do alone.”

His hope for DragonEyes is equally straightforward.

“DragonEyes could become a valuable job for someone, and for someone else, a way to connect with the world,” he said.