AI teaching assistant shows real promise at S. Korea tech university KAIST
South Korea's top science and engineering university has rolled out a custom-built AI teaching assistant to help students in large graduate courses, and early results show it helped reduce repetitive student questions while encouraging more active, self-directed learning.
At Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a team of researchers led by AI graduate school professor Choi Yoon-jae and design professor Hong Hwa-jung developed a virtual teaching assistant, or VTA, that can answer student questions at any time, with responses tailored to specific lectures and coursework.
The tool was piloted last fall in a programming class for AI, taken by 477 graduate students. It's the first time such a system has been tested at scale in a Korean university setting.
What sets the KAIST VTA apart is that it isn't a generic chatbot. Instead, it runs on what's called a retrieval-augmented generation model, which pulls directly from course materials like slides, coding exercises and lecture videos. When students ask a question, the system finds the most relevant content and formulates a response based on that context. This means answers are grounded in what's actually taught, not just generated from a general AI model.
Over 50 percent of students used the system regularly during the 14-week semester, generating nearly 3,870 questions and answers. Students without a strong background in AI or coding were among the most active users, suggesting the VTA helped close knowledge gaps for those new to the subject. These figures come from internal usage data collected by KAIST during the semester.
The system didn't just benefit students. According to lead TA and doctoral researcher Kwon Soon-jun, it reduced the number of routine questions from students, such as basic concept definitions or explanations already given in class. That allowed human teaching assistants to focus more on deeper, more complex issues. Compared to the previous year's course, the volume of questions requiring direct responses from TAs dropped by around 40 percent, based on data compiled by Professor Choi.
Students also appeared more comfortable asking questions through the VTA than to human TAs, especially when it came to theoretical topics. Surveys conducted by Choi's research team before, during and after the course showed that students became increasingly confident in the system's reliability, and those who had been hesitant to speak up in class reported higher satisfaction levels when using the AI assistant.
The VTA's source code has been released publicly on GitHub to encourage adoption by other educators and researchers. The work was also accepted to the Industry Track at ACL 2025, one of the leading international conferences in natural language processing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
9 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Asia Tech x Singapore 2025 Recap
SINGAPORE, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At the recent ATxSummit, the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) 2025, organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), key global and regional efforts around AI, LLM models, AI adoption for enterpise and upskilling for talent were announced. Building a trusted AI ecosystem is a key focus for Singapore, as maximal adoption and innovation can happen, leading to greater productivity and societal benefits. Singapore has been influencing global norms for AI through: Advancing AI science locally and globally "The Singapore Consensus on Global AI Safety Research Priorities", The Singapore Consensus, was presented at the Ministerial Roundtable to bridge research and policies on AI safety. This anchors on science-based evidence to identify priorities to build trusted, reliable and secure AI and translates research into policies to ensure responsible development and use of AI. IMDA has been working with global partners to develop practical and implementable frameworks e.g. IMDA's enhanced AI Verify Testing Framework now addresses GenAI risks and aligns with US NIST standards, streamlining AI governance across both markets. Singapore and US will spearhead the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Certification for businesses to facilitate trusted cross border data flows. This provides businesses with access to 9 economies with about 40 trillion in market size. Providing practical testing guidance and tools with AI Verify Foundation Globally, there is a growing need to test and prototype AI in real-world setting and the Global AI Assurance Pilot has brought together expert testers and companies from around the world to work through use cases. The pilot gained strong local and international interest. 16 specialist AI testers were paired with 17 GenAI deployers from 10 different industries. The valuable insights will influence global norms for AI. Announced on 29 May, IMDA develops first-of-its-kind Testing Starter Kit for Gen AI Applications, offering practical testing guidance for businesses developing or using GenAI apps. Open-sourcing practical testing toolkits such as the Testing Starter Kit help companies test the performance and reliability of AI models in their business context. Catalysing innovation to real-world deployment The regional-language LLMs developed through the National Multimodal Large Language Model Programme supported by IMDA includes the text-based SEA-LION LLM, and the multimodal MERaLiON LLM. Announced on 28 May, MERaLiON (Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network) developed by A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) is Southeast Asia (SEA)'s empathetic Multimodal LLM, designed to understand the region's diverse languages, cultures, and communication styles. MERaLiON's first version garnered over 90,000 downloads globally since its release in Dec 2024, attracting users from corporate research labs, media service providers, startups, and academics. MERaLiON Version 2 features upgrades like wider coverage of Southeast Asian languages, code-switching capabilities, being emotionally intelligent and paralinguistic understanding. These improvements pave the way for more intuitive and culturally aware AI apps in SEA. This would help businesses build products and services in SEA that are catered for cultural nuances to enhance their service and engagement with customers. Through such projects, Singapore and SEA can retain a distinct voice and identity in this digital age. A*STAR I 2 R and IMDA launched the new MERaLiON Consortium to harness expertise in the ecosystem, and forge partnership among organisations, end users, R&D, technology players to accelerate learning and adoption to develop practical AI apps (e.g. from multilingual customer support to health and emotional insight detection and agentic decision-making systems). For critical fields like healthcare – SingHealth, the largest healthcare group in Singapore, announced that Enigma, Singapore's agentic healthcare AI, co-developed by clinicians and AI scientists, signed Memorandum of Understandings with Roche and ST Engineering to expand the reach and use of Enigma. Frontier tech is making headway and Singapore is working with enterprises and talent to level up IMDA is working with enterprises to turbocharge their adoption of tech through initiatives tailored to their levels of digital maturity. By embracing digital, businesses can cut costs, enhance productivity, venture new product lines and markets. Last year, Singapore launched the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB), a roadmap to help SMEs stay ahead of the curve by incorporating tech like AI, Cloud, Cyber Resilience into their operations. On 27 May, Singapore announced three new partnerships with Alibaba Cloud, Prudential Singapore, and ST Engineering Info under DEB to uplift the digital capabilities like AI, cloud technologies and cyber resilience. IMDA is enhancing its partnership with tech giants like AWS and Microsoft via the GenAI x Digital Leaders Programme to turbo-charge access to tech expertise/resources, advisory on projects, business impact and implementation support for digitally mature SMEs. In tandem, Singapore is meeting the growing demand for talent by training and reskilling tech talent. IMDA secured 400 job and training opportunities under TechSkills Accelerator where locals can take on AI Practitioner roles with leading companies such as AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and SingTel. Announced on 27 May, IMDA is expanding the effort and partnering AI Singapore and leading companies to provide another 400 more AI Practitioner job and training opportunities for locals. These 800 new training opportunities aim to accelerate the pipeline of AI practitioners and enable locals to take on higher-value work in frontier companies.
Korea Herald
14 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Posco Future M advances supply chain independence with new precursor plant
Facility aims to meet rising demand for China-independent battery materials amid shifting US trade policies Korean battery material manufacturer Posco Future M officially opened its new precursor plant Tuesday in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, marking a key step in its efforts to build a self-sufficient supply chain. 'The completion of this precursor plant, following Posco Group's establishment of its own nickel supply chain, marks the realization of a fully self-sufficient system, from raw materials to intermediate products and the finished cathode material,' said Eom Gi-chen, CEO of Posco Future M, during the opening ceremony. 'In today's rapidly changing global supply chain landscape, the Gwangyang precursor plant will enhance the competitiveness and growth of Korea's battery industry.' The 22,400 square meter facility has an annual production capacity of 45,000 metric tons of precursor — a chemically synthesized mixture of metals used in cathode materials — enough to support battery production for 500,000 electric vehicles, the company said. The facility, which has been ramping up operations since May, was largely in operation during a media tour held the same day. The plant was filled with around 50 large metal tanks spread across the factory floor. The precursor production process involves six main steps: dissolving metals in purified water, inducing chemical reactions with catalysts to form precursor crystals, then washing, dehydrating, drying and packaging the final product. 'The reaction process is the core of precursor manufacturing, as it determines the material's density and elemental ratio, both of which are tailored to meet customer specifications,' a company official said, noting Posco Future M's flexibility in adjusting compositions to client needs. Currently, the company uses nickel, cobalt and manganese to produce precursors for NCM cathodes used in electric vehicle batteries, according to the order by Ultium Cells, a US-based 50:50 joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors. 'All precursors produced at this facility are currently supplied to Ultium Cells,' the official added. The company said the timely launch was driven by growing demand from customers for China-independent supply chains, while many other battery projects have been delayed amid sluggish EV demand. The US Inflation Reduction Act disqualifies EV batteries containing materials from 'foreign entities of concern,' including China, from tax credit eligibility. This policy shift has prompted automakers to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers, who currently dominate 90 percent of the global precursor market. To meet these evolving demands, Posco Future M said it has also secured alternative sources for raw materials used in precursor production. 'We understand the risks automakers face when their supply chains are overly concentrated in China. Regardless of cost considerations, that's where the competitiveness of our plant comes in,' said Lee So-young, head of the business strategy planning group at Posco Future M. 'As US policies continue to evolve, we're working to establish a supply chain that's less exposed to such changes, including sourcing raw materials independently of Chinese suppliers.' The plant's 10 production lines are controlled by about 10 staff members via monitors that provide a real-time overview of the process. With a high degree of automation, the company aims to enhance quality control of its cathod materials — a factor it says was more difficult to achieve when using externally sourced precursors. 'When customers request specific features, many of them cannot be achieved simply by processing third-party precursors,' Lee added. 'We believe our ability to meet those demands in both quality and cost also gives us a key competitive edge.'
Korea Herald
15 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Naver builds digital twin platform for Saudi smart city project
Korean internet giant Naver said Tuesday that it has completed the construction of a large-scale digital twin platform for three major cities in Saudi Arabia -- Mecca, Medina and Jeddah -- as part of the Middle Eastern nation's smart city ambitions. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-world place that uses high-resolution 3D models to help plan and manage cities more effectively. The newly created platform spans about 6,800 square kilometers -- more than 11 times the size of Seoul -- and incorporates data on over 920,000 buildings. It combines ultra-high-resolution 3D imagery with real-time data streams, enabling urban planners, engineers and administrators in Saudi Arabia to optimize city management and development. The platform offers a range of analytical features based on 3D modeling, including terrain analysis for land grading and slope measurement, skyline and sunlight exposure analysis for landscape, and view assessments and simulations for natural disasters such as flooding. It also allows for real-time integration of building design data to verify compliance with local construction regulations. The project is spearheaded by Balady, Saudi Arabia's urban development authority, which plans to expand the digital twin platform to additional cities across the country. 'We will continue to enhance the platform in collaboration with local partners, broaden its geographical coverage and discover new use cases,' said Han Sang-young, leader of global DX and innovation at Naver. Naver secured the project from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing in October 2023, with full-scale development commencing in July last year. Last month, Naver Cloud and NHC Innovation -- the digital arm of Saudi Arabia's National Housing Company -- launched a joint venture called Naver Innovation. The new entity will lead projects including the development of a map-based super application and further expansion of digital twin-based services in the region.
