Professor Changkeun Lee from KDI School of Public Policy and Management is visiting UCL to continue their conversation on the impact of AI on various Korean industries. This time, the focus is on the Webtoon industry.
His presentation introduces the Korean webtoon industry as a platform-based digital comics market and examines how platform power and artificial intelligence are reshaping creative production. It explains how webtoons are produced and distributed through large online platforms that control audience access, monetization, and visibility, and how this platform structure has shifted production away from individual artists toward studio- and team-based models designed for scale and regular output.
The presentation then discusses the growing use of AI tools in webtoon production. AI is increasingly used to automate time-consuming tasks such as coloring and background generation, improving efficiency under tight weekly schedules. At the same time, creators express concerns about declining originality, weakened authorial identity, and the impact of AI on early-career creative workers. Drawing on survey evidence, the presentation highlights differing views across creative roles and broad support for clearer rules on AI training data, transparency, and compensation. Overall, it shows how platforms and AI together create both opportunities and tensions in contemporary digital creative industries.
Speaker’s Bio
Changkeun Lee is an economist working at the intersection of economic history, labor economics, and applied microeconomics. His research examines how firms and workers respond to technological and macroeconomic change, with a focus on the institutional mechanisms that shape structural transformation. His work spans diverse historical and regional contexts, including the United States during the Great Depression, post-independence South Korea, and Vietnam since economic liberalization, aiming to identify patterns that extend beyond country-specific cases. He collaborates widely across disciplines and policy domains, participating in multiple National Research Foundation–funded research teams and advising local governments and cultural institutions.
Dr Lee has led and contributed to policy research commissioned by the Korean government on labor markets, digital transformation, cultural policy, statistical innovation, and development cooperation,particularly in relation to ASEAN countries. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan and previously worked at the Korea Development Institute and Yonsei University.