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"For K-culture to be loved 30 years from now, we must not simply repeat past success formulas. We need to seek and experiment with new things, but merely being different is not enough."
Lee Soo-man, Key Producer at A2O Entertainment, said this while speaking at the "Sidae Forum" held on the 21st at the Sebit Island Convention Center in Seoul under the theme "K-Culture × Tech: The Path to Sustainable Growth," adding, "We must continually ask what is new and why it needs to be created now."
The Sidae Forum is a public event hosted for the first time since the print launch of Sidae, a comprehensive daily newspaper by Donghaeng Media, on the 15th. It was organized to explore sustainable growth strategies for K-culture, including creation and content production in the AI (artificial intelligence) era, robot entertech, beautytech, and K-lifestyle.
On this day, Producer Lee delivered a keynote speech titled "Human Creativity and the Future of K-culture," presenting the concept and future vision of "Culture Technology" (CT), which he has been developing for a long time.
He explained CT as "not simply applying new technology to culture, but finding the technology needed to create content that did not previously exist, and researching and experimenting directly if it does not yet exist."
Citing representative examples, he pointed to "4D Gaussian Splatting (4DGS)" and A2O's Infinity Studio based on this technology. 4DGS is a technology that simultaneously collects information on a person's movements as well as time and space using multiple cameras, and reconstructs viewpoints from positions that were not actually filmed.
Producer Lee stated, "It is an evolution from cameras that capture to cameras that create," emphasizing, "More important than how much the technology develops is our wisdom in deciding how that technology will be used."
He added, "It must be new and different, but ultimately people must first feel it is 'good' and be able to love it," noting, "This is the most important starting point when talking about culture and technology."
It was explained that this philosophy was also applied to the rookie boy group A2O SOUL and girl group A2O LITE, which were recently released simultaneously. Parts of the teasers and music videos for the two groups were produced using 4DGS technology at A2O's Infinity Studio.
In the first part of the forum, Cecilia Shen, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Utopia Studio, introduced how AI is changing video production processes and studio operations under the theme "AI Native Studio: How Technology and Production Combine."
Director Kim Geu-ryun, who received an Emmy Award in 2024, examined new collaboration methods between creators and AI under the theme "Creation in the AI Era, Changes in Content Production Methods." Following this, the second part addressed the process of K-culture's influence expanding beyond content into the robot, beauty, and fashion industries.
Yoon Sang-bo, Vice President of Galaxy Corporation, introduced cases of applying "Physical AI" to entertainment, such as humanoid robot idols and robot fashion shows. Shin Jae-ha, Vice President of APAL, presented an expansion strategy into home beauty devices and professional skincare areas based on beautytech that combines technology.
Lee Seung-jin, Vice President of Musinsa, revealed a vision to grow K-fashion into a global K-lifestyle by supporting the production, investment, marketing, distribution, and overseas expansion of domestic small and independent fashion brands.
Producer Lee Soo-man emphasized, "AI should be a tool that enables what humans have not been able to do until now and expands the domain of creators," adding, "It is above all important that the future we create is not determined by technology alone, but becomes a better future through human wisdom and culture."
[MoneyToday startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']
in FUTURE
