Winners are taking a commemorative group photo at the ‘Digital In-depth Issue Discussion Contest and Paper Contest Award Ceremony’ held at The Book Company Cultural Lounge in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 19th.
Leading figures who will lead the digital future have gathered in one place. The digital native generation came forward and held heated discussions to discuss various issues that will arise in the digital era and find solutions. Students diagnosed the pros and cons of artificial intelligence (AI) technology with a sharp perspective and even suggested policy alternatives. It is evaluated that this event served as a foundation for taking a step forward towards a digital shared prosperity society.
The Ministry of Science and ICT held the ‘Digital In-depth Issue Discussion Contest and Paper Contest Awards Ceremony’ at The Book Company Cultural Lounge in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 19th. This event is an opportunity to listen to students’ vivid opinions on newly emerging issues in the digital era and seek solutions from a digital native perspective.
About 100 people attended the event, including middle and high school students and college students who advanced to the finals of the debate competition, thesis contest winners, visitors, and judges. Relatives and acquaintances holding bouquets of flowers and watching the discussion nervously were also noticeable.
Song Sang-hoon, Director of the Information and Communication Policy Department at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “This debate competition and paper contest is an opportunity to address important issues in the digital era where humans and AI coexist.” “It will be an important step towards this,” he said.
In the final of the digital issue debate competition, active discussions took place on key issues in the digital era, such as harmonization of AI innovation and regulation, and response to deepfake sex crimes and fake news. As it was a finals match held over competition from 76 teams, the students had a fierce debate, refuting and refuting the opponents’ claims.
In the university division, the team Lee Sim Jeon Shim (Yoon Chae-rim and Choi In-seong) won the championship. In a debate on the topic of ‘Is mandatory labeling of AI products effective to prevent deepfake fake news?’, the E-Sim Jeonsim team won the Minister of Science and ICT Award by presenting the inefficiency of the system and the lack of feasibility of establishing the system as arguments from the opposing side.
The Ishim Jeonsim team said, “The essence of deepfake side effects is not the authenticity, but the damage caused by the composite product itself,” and added, “Even if the AI labeling system is mandated, this cannot be fundamentally resolved,” and ordered that a better alternative should be found rather than mandating the labeling of AI products.
In the high school division, the Cicero (Yoo So-yeon and Lee Pyeong Cheongju) team won the championship, and in the middle school division, the Clever (Lee Ye-seo and Choi Yeo-ji) team won the championship. The Cicero team debated from an opposing perspective on whether strong obligations should be imposed on platform operators to prevent and respond to deepfake sexual crimes. The Cicero team mentioned technical limitations and concerns about infringement on freedom of expression and said, “To fundamentally prevent crime, priority should be given to establishing laws and systems and improving social awareness through education.”
The Clever team took a stance in favor of the question, ‘Should we slow down the pace of AI development or regulate it so that it cannot be developed beyond an appropriate level to prevent AI risks?’ The Clever team won by arguing that “in a situation where the system is not maintained, the reckless development of AI can lead to an infringement of personal privacy,” and that reducing AI misuse and strengthening ethics will help strengthen national AI competitiveness in the long run. was awarded.
Professor Sa Young-jun of Sogang University, who served as a judge for the debate competition, said, “It was encouraging that all the winning teams presented creative and practical solutions to respond to adverse effects that may occur in the AI era from the perspective of students who are digital natives.”
Digital In-depth Issue Debate held at The Book Company Cultural Lounge in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 19th.
In the digital thesis contest that followed, after the first and second rounds of screening, ‘Exploring the needs for information accessibility support for the visually impaired: Multifaceted support measures at the welfare center, company, and government level’ submitted by Kim Joo-seong of Ewha Womans University was selected as the best work.
In his presentation, Joo-seong Kim evaluated the impact of digital technological innovation, including AI, on information accessibility for the visually impaired and suggested the need for policy efforts such as distributing assistive technology devices, improving the education system, and strengthening corporate and government responsibility. In particular, he emphasized the need to redefine the concept of assistive devices in order to expand budget support.
The paper proposed not only simple AI technology but also multifaceted support measures at welfare centers, companies, and government levels, and dealt with specific and practical directions for establishing policies and developing services related to information accessibility. Seven out of 10 people who participated in the study were visually impaired, and the fact that multifaceted discussions were held that reflected experiences from the user’s perspective also received high scores.
The winning team of the debate competition on this day was awarded a prize of 1 to 3 million won along with the Minister of Science and ICT award, and a total of 11.2 million won was provided to the semifinalists. The Minister’s Award and a prize of 3 million won were awarded to the best work in the thesis competition, and 2 million won were awarded to each excellent work, for a total of 7 million won in prize money.
Park Jae-moon, Secretary General of the Korea Association of Information, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Universities, who co-hosted the event, said, “This competition provided an opportunity for youth and students, who are the leaders of the future society, to discuss together at a time when digital technology is rapidly changing our society.” “I hope this will be an opportunity to accumulate awareness of digital society problems and deep consideration about alternatives,” he said.
The Ministry of Science and ICT emphasizes that the key subjects in establishing a new digital order are the people, and that in the digital era, the nature of issues is complex and the interests are diverse, so the people’s deliberation is more important than anything else. The Ministry of Science and ICT promotes surveys, policy idea contests, debate contests, and thesis contests through online digital public forums, and conducts colloquiums and open forums offline.
ㅇ – Winners of the Digital In-depth Issue Debate Contest Winners of the Digital In-depth Issue Paper Contest – Winners of the Digital In-depth Issue Paper Contest
Reporter Park Jun-ho [email protected]
