South Korea’s plan to put AI-powered textbooks on classroom tablets is drawing resistance from parents who want clearer answers before the technology becomes part of daily school life.
The government’s proposal is ambitious: tablets are scheduled to enter classrooms next year, and by 2028 teachers are expected to use AI textbooks across all subjects except music, art, physical education and ethics. But the limited public detail around the program has left some families focused less on the promise of personalization and more on the risks of giving children another screen-based learning system.
A classroom shift built around AI textbooks
The planned system centers on tablets loaded with AI-powered textbooks. According to the source article, the material is meant to adapt to different speeds of learning, allowing students to move through lessons in ways that reflect their own pace.
Teachers would also have dashboards to monitor student progress. In practical terms, that means the classroom would not only include digital textbooks, but also a data layer showing how students are doing as they work through the material.
That combination explains why the project is getting attention. AI textbooks are not simply digital versions of printed books. As described, they would create a more responsive learning environment, with instructional material tailored to the learner and teacher oversight supported by dashboards.
Still, the government has not shared many details about how it will all work. That absence matters because parents are being asked to accept a major classroom change before they have a full picture of the daily experience for students and teachers.
Why parents are pushing back
The strongest public sign of concern is a petition signed by more than 50,000 parents. The petition asks the government to place less emphasis on new technology and more emphasis on students’ overall well-being.
Its message is not a broad rejection of education, learning tools or teacher support. The concern is more specific: parents are worried that children already face serious problems linked to exposure to digital devices, and that school could add to that burden.
“We, as parents, are already encountering many issues at unprecedented levels arising from [our children’s] exposure to digital devices.”
That statement frames the debate in human terms. For these parents, the question is not only whether AI-powered textbooks can customize lessons. It is whether the benefits of that customization are worth increasing the role of tablets in children’s routines.
Lee Sun-youn, a mother of two, described the concern directly to FT:
“I am worried that too much usage of digital devices could negatively affect their brain development, concentration span and ability to solve problems — they already use smartphones and tablets too much.”
Her comments point to a broader tension around educational technology. A tool designed for learning can still raise concerns if it expands screen time, changes classroom habits or makes digital devices harder to avoid.
The promise and the unanswered questions
The government’s stated direction suggests several intended benefits. AI textbooks could support students who learn at different speeds. Teacher dashboards could make it easier to see where students are progressing and where they may need attention.
Those ideas are easy to understand. In many classrooms, students do not all move at the same pace. A system that adjusts material for different speeds of learning could, in theory, make instruction feel less uniform.
But the article also makes clear that details are limited. Parents do not yet appear to have enough information about how much time students will spend on tablets, what dashboard monitoring will look like, or how the system will fit into ordinary classroom teaching.
That gap is important because implementation will shape the real impact. An AI textbook program can sound different depending on whether it is used occasionally, used heavily, or becomes the default way students engage with nearly every subject.
The list of exceptions also matters. Music, art, physical education and ethics are excluded from the 2028 target, while other subjects are expected to use AI textbooks. That makes the program broad enough to affect much of a student’s school experience.
What the debate is really about
The disagreement is not simply technology versus no technology. It is a debate over priorities: personalization, monitoring and classroom modernization on one side; student well-being, concentration and device exposure on the other.
Parents who signed the petition are asking the government to slow down its emphasis on new tech and pay closer attention to children’s overall condition. Their argument gains force because children already use smartphones and tablets outside school, according to Lee Sun-youn’s comments.
For schools, the challenge is that an AI textbook rollout touches several sensitive areas at once:
- How much digital device use is appropriate for students.
- How teachers will use dashboards without reducing learning to monitored activity.
- How customized material will affect students moving at different speeds.
- How parents will be informed before the program expands.
None of those questions can be answered by the idea of AI alone. They depend on the design of the program, the amount of classroom use, and the way teachers and students are expected to work with the tablets.
A high-stakes rollout with limited detail
South Korea’s AI textbook plan is moving toward a clear timeline: tablets are scheduled for classrooms next year, and broad subject coverage is expected by 2028. That gives the program momentum, but it also raises the pressure to explain how the system will work before it becomes widespread.
The parent response shows that adoption is not only a technical project. It is also a trust issue. Families want to know whether AI-powered learning will support students without deepening concerns about digital devices.
Until more details are available, skepticism is likely to remain part of the discussion. The promise of AI textbooks is customization and better visibility for teachers. The concern is that the same tools could place more of childhood inside screens, even when parents are already worried about the effects.