Gwangju Seo-gu Takes First Step to Overcome Welfare Blind Spots Using AI

Operation of the First AI Welfare Worker Pilot Service in the Local Community

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Daeseok) announced on the 25th that it will pilot an AI Welfare Worker virtual counselor check-in call service, the first of its kind in the local community.

The service targets about 8,000 care recipients in the district.

Currently, Seo-gu supports personalized services tailored to individual needs through home visits by about 70 social workers per neighborhood for care recipients.

Although active administration is being carried out to establish a dense welfare safety net without blind spots, the limit was a maximum of seven visits per social worker per day.

Moreover, these visits were conducted restrictively due to social distancing, making welfare implementation difficult.

In response, Seo-gu has been striving to minimize welfare gaps by integrating KT's AI technology into the welfare delivery system.

The AI Welfare Worker makes scheduled phone calls to check on care recipients, converts the call content into text, and delivers it in real time to the responsible social worker.

Through this, it is expected to confirm the condition and needs of care recipients identified in the first stage, determine the necessity of home visits, and provide customized services in advance during visits.

A Seo-gu official said, “The AI Welfare Worker is expected to be a great help in monitoring the difficulties of vulnerable groups beyond the temporal and physical limitations caused by COVID-19.”

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