Touching Untact Wealth

Social Distancing Ripple Effects
AI Conducts Individual In-House Training
Collaboration and Cloud Enable 'Together Yet Apart'

Global Market Focuses on Work and Education Businesses
Streaming and Delivery Service Demand Explodes

[Asia Economy Reporters Buaeri and Kwon Jaehee] "Hello, Eric~" When greeted by artificial intelligence (AI), the AI responded warmly and asked, "What shall we learn today?" After selecting the topic 'outing,' the AI presented the task "Suggest hiking to a friend," and the English conversation class began.

CJ CheilJedang employees are currently taking English conversation classes with AI. Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), group classes previously held in auditoriums have been replaced by individual education. Employees install LG CNS's application (app) 'AI Tutor' on their smartphones and study freely at their preferred time and place.

As the COVID-19 pandemic prolonged and the untact (contactless) culture took root, untact has also emerged in the education sector. Kang Seok-tae, head of LG CNS's business development team overseeing AI Tutor development, said on the 10th, "Recently, due to the impact of COVID-19, corporate in-house education is shifting to untact formats," adding, "Untact classes are preferred by office workers because they can be conducted at any desired time and place." Reflecting the growing demand for untact education, LG CNS plans to offer the service to general customers as well as corporate clients starting in July.

◆ Untact Revolution from Education to Grocery Shopping = Untact, triggered by COVID-19, is being actively introduced in various fields including education. NHN's cloud collaboration platform 'Toast Workplace Duray' saw a fourfold increase in new client companies before and after the spread of COVID-19. KakaoTV, an online video platform operated by Kakao, experienced about a 40% increase in live broadcasts after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Professor Lee Hyung-min of the Department of Media Communication at Sungshin Women's University said, "With the acceleration of untact due to COVID-19, there is a very high possibility that the overall society, including people's interaction methods and consumption, will undergo revolutionary changes." Even those who were resistant to untact have actively changed their acceptance attitudes due to COVID-19.

In fact, the grocery shopping culture of middle-aged and older adults who preferred offline has shifted online. The number of members aged 50 and over at online food delivery company Market Kurly increased by 94% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, nearly doubling. Gmarket also saw an 89% increase in orders of daily necessities purchased by customers aged 50 and over. Professor Lee explained, "The unexpected situation of COVID-19 has become an opportunity for people to positively change their vague resistance to online transactions and untact culture through actual experience."

◆ Chinese Online Education Company GSX Stock Grows 92% = The untact sectors gaining attention in the global market are online video conferencing and online learning services. The stock price of GSX, a Chinese online education company listed on Nasdaq, grew 92% compared to the beginning of the year. Hong Kong-based video education startup Snapask saw a significant increase in new student registrations in January and February, earning $35 million (approximately 42.46 billion KRW) in February alone. Microsoft, which provides online-based software services, saw its stock price jump 7% in a single day on the 30th of last month. Microsoft offers an app for video calls and messaging, gaining 12 million new users daily for a week since mid-March.

Delivery services have also rapidly grown amid the spread of COVID-19. While previously limited to food delivery, the service area has expanded to include delivery of daily necessities such as hand sanitizers. Recently, Uber Eats partnered with French supermarket chain Carrefour and other retailers to start delivering food and daily necessities. Spain's Uber Eats, Glovo, has also launched services such as purchasing medicines from pharmacies and delivering them within an hour, receiving positive responses.

Due to the spread of social distancing, demand for online videos has exploded as people cannot visit movie theaters. Disney announced on the 8th (local time) that its subscriber count reached 50 million. Previously, Disney had announced 26.5 million subscribers during its first-quarter earnings report on February 4. This means it secured more than double the number of new subscribers in just two months.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.