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Ministry of Education/ Photo by Reporter Park Sung-il

In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), students are using drawings and videos to explain the Personal Information Protection Act.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) are holding the "2026 Safe Personal Information Protection Case Contest" from July 21 to September 18. First launched in 2020, the annual contest is celebrating its seventh edition this year. It is open to elementary, middle, and high school students, as well as university students and youth of equivalent age across the country.

The theme of this year's contest is "My Precious Personal Information: Protecting It in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)." Students will create works capturing their everyday experiences with personal data infringement or damage, prevention and response examples, or methods to protect their own personal information.

Submissions are accepted in three categories: visual arts (posters and webtoons), video (long-form and short-form), and AI-generated content. The AI-generated content category accepts creations that incorporate images or videos made with AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney. However, elementary school students are excluded from this category due to age restrictions in the AI tools' terms of service.

A total of 13 prizes will be awarded, with prize money totaling 9.5 million won. The top award, the Minister of Education Award, includes a 2-million-won prize for one winner. The KERIS President Awards will be given to three Excellence Award winners (1 million won each) and nine Encouragement Award winners (500,000 won each). Entries can be submitted via email, and the winners will be announced in November following expert evaluations and a public online vote.

Lee Yoon-hong, Director General of the AI Human Resources Support Bureau at the Ministry of Education, remarked, "As AI technology becomes deeply embedded in our daily lives, anxieties over personal data leaks have grown." He added, "We hope this contest serves as an opportunity for students to recognize themselves as the rightful owners of their personal data and to safely protect their valuable personal information."

                                                                                                             Park Ji-sook