Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Expands Service of AI Cultural Interpretation Robot 'Q.I.'

Equipped with Two Screens Front and Back of the Body... Simultaneous Cultural Interpretation and Guidance Provided

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 9th that it will expand the AI cultural interpretation robot 'QAI' service in collaboration with the Korea Culture Information Service. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 9th that it will expand the AI cultural interpretation robot service ‘QAI’ in collaboration with the Korea Culture Information Service Agency.

This service is scheduled to be newly installed at the National Assembly Museum and the National Gongju Museum. QAI is a compound word combining Culture, Curating, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), carrying the dual meaning of an AI that recommends cultural information or a child.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has introduced the cultural interpretation robot service and currently operates 17 units of ‘QAI’ at 11 major cultural facilities under the ministry, including museums, art galleries, and libraries.

When visitors call its name by saying ‘Hi QAI’ and ask questions, QAI searches through approximately 150,000 knowledge data entries to provide appropriate answers. It moves around various exhibits to give detailed explanations, and offers sign language interpretation, companion guidance, children’s interpretation, and multilingual (Korean, Chinese, Japanese, English) explanations, helping cultural enjoyment for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, children, and foreigners.

The ministry plans to introduce various models of robots with improved functions over the existing model. This year, two screens will be attached to the front and back of the ‘QAI’ body, respectively, allowing it to provide cultural interpretation and guidance services simultaneously while moving.

A ministry official said, “‘QAI’ has played a significant role by performing over 80,000 cultural interpretation services and more than 460,000 AI guidance services during the past two years, despite difficulties in using cultural facilities and face-to-face services due to COVID-19. Going forward, we will provide visitors with unprecedented cultural interpretation service experiences and various non-face-to-face, customized services through the introduction of diverse robots.”

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