Only 8,324 students logged into AI Onieum by September
South Korea aimed to give 120,000 disadvantaged and rural high school students free access to paid AI services. Records disclosed by lawmaker Seo Beom-su show that 8,324 had logged in at least once by late September. Applications and account issuance also fell well below the eligible population, while a large part of the budget is expected to return.
Artificial Intelligence··Evening
A wide eligibility pool, a small active group
The Education Ministry’s AI Onieum programme was meant to give disadvantaged and rural high school students access to paid artificial-intelligence services without a charge. It announced capacity for 120,000 students. The Korea Student Aid Foundation’s records, disclosed by National Assembly education committee member Seo Beom-su, show 314,674 eligible students and 68,040 applications. The foundation issued 39,331 accounts.[1], [2]
By September 30, only 8,324 students had logged in at least once. This represents 2.6 percent of the eligible group and 6.9 percent of the announced support capacity. A login is a minimal activity measure: it does not say how often a student returned or whether access helped with learning. News1 says the accounts could be used to choose services including ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.[1], [2]
Applications opened after months of preparation
Seo’s timetable places the supplementary budget decision in April, the ministry’s designation of the foundation in May and the foundation’s basic plan in June. An emergency tender was announced on July 1, and the contractor agreement followed on July 25. Students applied from August 20 through August 28. Online advertising began on the opening day, according to the Yonhap account.[1]
The application gap was especially visible among low-income students: News1 counts 14,071 applicants from 99,175 who met that criterion. It reports that 1,589 of 2,680 eligible schools submitted no individual applications. Another 510 of 753 rural schools, where the school applies on students’ behalf, also did not apply. The foundation told Seo’s office that urgent implementation after the supplementary budget made low uptake difficult to avoid.[2]
Budget and oversight follow the usage figures
The programme received 9.5 billion won in special funding. Of that, 6.65 billion won was contracted and 2.85 billion won is expected to be returned. Contractor payments depend on actual use, so the returned amount may rise. News1 reports that spending was still zero at the end of September. Yonhap adds that 26,982 of the issued accounts were created on September 30 itself, sharply limiting the time those recipients had to use the service before the snapshot.[1], [2]
Seo criticised the procurement and asked the foundation to provide usage by student category, reasons for nonapplication, expected contractor payments and remedies before its comprehensive audit. He said an inadequate response could prompt a request for review by the national audit office. The figures come from foundation data supplied to the lawmaker. They do not measure educational outcomes.[1], [2]
