Sejong University research team selected for government-funded cultural content R&D project

Kim Soo-yeon, third from right, a professor in the Department of English Data Convergence at Sejong University, poses with researchers in this undated photo. She concurrently serves as director of the university’s Institute of Humanities, Intelligence and Technology. Courtesy of Sejong University

A Sejong University research team has been selected for a government-funded cultural content research and development project.

The university said Friday that the team, led by professor Kim Soo-yeon of the Department of English Data Convergence, will participate in the 2026 Korea Creative Content Agency R&D Program funded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and supported by the Korea Creative Content Agency.

Under the initiative, Kim’s team plans to carry out a project to develop a personalized artificial intelligence (AI) agent technology designed to enhance cultural accessibility for people in culturally underserved communities.

Kim, concurrently director of the university’s Institute of Humanities, Intelligence and Technology, will lead the project, which will run through December 2028. The project budget is estimated at 4.44 billion won ($2.95 million), of which 3.6 billion won will be provided by the government.

The university said its Industry-Academy Cooperation Foundation will serve as the lead R&D institution. Joint research partners include the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Tutors Labs, NC AI and K3I, an extended reality (XR) middleware company.

The project aims to improve cultural accessibility and expand opportunities for cultural engagement among culturally marginalized groups, including multicultural families, North Korean defectors and senior citizens.

The research team plans to develop a personalized cultural engagement AI agent that analyzes users’ speech characteristics, language proficiency, cognitive status and emotional changes to recommend cultural content tailored to each user's needs.

Rather than simply delivering content, the AI agent engages users in interactive conversations to deepen their understanding of and immersion in cultural experiences.

The technology is expected to make cultural experiences more accessible and engaging for users with diverse linguistic, cognitive and social needs.

The research team plans to build two modular cultural experience booths to be installed in the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces. Each booth will offer three modes of engagement — interactive experiences, cultural appreciation and information exploration.

In addition, the team will develop a mobile app to further enhance the service’s scalability and accessibility.

“This project is particularly meaningful because it seeks to ensure that culturally underserved groups can benefit from advances in artificial intelligence,” Kim said. “Through a personalized AI agent, we aim to provide these communities with diverse cultural experiences while fostering a greater sense of social inclusion and belonging.”

She added, “Our goal is to develop an AI service that combines technological sophistication with a deep understanding of people, creating AI that is accessible to and beneficial for everyone.”

Since 2020, Kim has led a series of research projects aimed at preventing socially marginalized groups from being excluded from the benefits of advances in AI.

Her research has included the development of AI training speech datasets for foreign residents and older adults, as well as multimodal chatbots designed for people with migrant backgrounds.