‘AI and Idol’, which presents the influence and issues of AI in the rapidly changing idol industry, has been published and is attracting attention.

The recently published ‘AI and Idol’ (Communication Books) is an artificial intelligence series that looks at the world where AI is ‘resetting’. Based on the change in hegemony between idols-management companies-media-fans, which is the structure in which existing idols operated, this timely project raises questions from various angles about where the authenticity and creativity of the idol industry will go in the future.

Author Lee Jae-won covers what changes are occurring and what issues are expected as the role of artificial intelligence, rather than people, increases in the idol industry.

Based on the presence or absence of a human original, whether it is public, and the style of the reproduced appearance, the concept of ‘AI idol’ is presented, which is more comprehensive than the existing ‘virtual idol’, and the current status and prospects of AI operation are examined in the order of production-distribution-consumption.

It is divided into ‘AI graphics and idol visuals’, ‘AI composition and idol music’, ‘AI choreography and idol dance’, and ‘AI creative director and idol worldview’.

The distribution part examined the content distribution strategy of idols that has changed to a platform-centered algorithm-driven one, and in terms of consumption, it was discussed by dividing it into communication consumption (‘AI platform and fandom communication’) and performance consumption (‘AI visualization and idol performance’).

Author Lee Jae-won said, “Unlike other industries, the idol industry is a special field in which ‘stars’, who are ‘people’, are strongly characterized as ‘products’, and the role of the person who creates the idol is very important. “Since their creativity is the core competency that leads the industry, I wanted to diagnose what the results would be and what to watch out for when AI intervenes in the idol industry,” he said, explaining his intention for writing.

I wanted to explore the sociocultural implications of AI being utilized in the idol industry, where people have produced works close to comprehensive art, such as choreography, costumes, makeup, and fashion, as well as music.

He added, “I hope this will be a place to discuss whether the production staff will be able to produce more comfortably if AI intervenes in the process of concretizing and gathering creative ideas by involving many people, or whether the results of AI intervention will just be a repetition of things that already exist.”

The author, Jaewon Lee, is a visiting professor in the Department of Culture and Technology Convergence at Sungkyunkwan University and an adjunct professor in the Department of Applied Music at Hanyang University ERICA.

He plans, establishes, and operates the course ‘Artist Branding’ (Hanyang University Graduate School) and teaches the course ‘Korean Wave Content Planning’ (Sungkyunkwan University).

He received a bachelor‘s and master’s degree from the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting at Ewha Womans University, and a doctorate in journalism from the Department of Journalism and Public Relations.

He served as a reporter for Sports Today, the head of the Sports Korea department, and the editor-in-chief of Ten Asia.

His books include ‘Algorithm and Journalism’ (Communication Books, 2021), ‘Living with AI’ (Communication Books, 2020), and his major papers include ‘How Did Virtual Human Rosie Become a Celebrity?’ (2023), ‘An Exploratory Study on the Authenticity Discourse Strategy of Popular Music Audition Programs’ (2021), ‘An Exploratory Study on the Formation of Fandom Community through Social Media Connectivity’ (2021), and published in KCI.

He was selected as a Scholarly Next Generation by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2018), a Media New Scholar by SBS Cultural Foundation (2019), a Journalism & Innovation by the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (2021), and a New Scholar by the Korean Broadcasting Society GS Retail (2022). He served as a judge for the Blue Dragon Series Awards (2023), the Korean Culture Festival The K Billboard Awards (2022), and the Edaily Culture Awards Concert Category (2015-2022).

He is currently appearing on KBS Korean Broadcasting‘s ‘One Korean People’’s ‘In-Depth Analysis of the Korean Wave’ (2019~), and SBS‘s ‘Open TV Viewer World’’s ‘Focus This Program’ (2023~).



Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.