Yes, “AI slop” is real, Korea’s top AI policy official acknowledges, and yes, the flood of AI-generated content online can have “adverse effects.” At the same time, as vice chair of the presidential National AI Strategy Committee, Ha Jung-woo is pushing to broaden video creators’ access to AI production tools and develop homegrown technology that would reduce Korea’s reliance on foreign AI platforms.
That dilemma was on full display at a press conference in Seoul on Monday following a screening of “Steelay,” a movie created entirely using generative AI. Ha’s comments on AI slop — a term used to describe low-quality AI-produced content — came as he fielded questions from reporters ranging from how profits should be divided between tech companies and creators whose works may have been used to train AI models, to who should hold the copyright to the material.
But there was another central question: Do audiences actually want AI-generated films? And if such movies cannot stand on their own at the box office, should the government continue investing in them?
An ‘AI-averse’ crowd
“Steelay” is a 90-minute sci-fi movie that follows Kang, the son of a prominent engineer who created Aira, a robot capable of autonomous decision-making. After Aira begins identifying humans as a threat and goes rogue, Kang, wearing the combat suit Steelay, sets out to rescue his kidnapped father, who may be able to restore Aira to its original state.
According to Laon Company, which co-produced “Steelay,” the film was completed in six months on a budget of less than 1 billion won ($743,000).
Based onconventional industry calculations, a film with a total cost of 1 billion won would typically need roughly 300,000 box office admissions to recoup that investment, though the actual break-even point will depend on marketing costs and revenue from other
It remains to be seen whether “Steelay,” which will be released on Oct. 14, can reach that threshold.
It is not Korea’s first feature film produced entirely using AI. “I’m PoPo,” billed as the country’s first of its kind, and “Man in Hanbok” — both running just over 60 minutes — were released in theaters in May.
Both films were pulled from theaters less than two weeks after their premieres. “I’m PoPo” drew 781 admissions, while “Man in Hanbok” attracted 640 filmgoers, according to data compiled by the Korean Film Council.
Critical reception was also harsh. Writing for film magazine Cine21, critic Lee Yong-cheol gave “I’m PoPo” five out of 10, crediting it for its “significance as a starting point.” He gave “Man in Hanbok” three out of 10, calling it “an excessive attempt driven by excessive imagination.”
The two films are part of an unusually concentrated run of pictures completely or primarily made with AI in the country. Compared with Hollywood, where major studios have largely used generative AI selectively within conventional productions, Korea has moved relatively quickly to test AI-driven features as finished products.
CJ ENM’s “The House,” a 60-minute horror film using real actors and AI-generated visuals, debuted on Tving in May. “Raphael,” an 80-minute feature made entirely with generative AI, was showcased at the Cannes Marché du Film the same month and is slated for a domestic theatrical release later this year.
“Steelay” is more ambitious in scale than Korea’s earlier theatrical AI features. At 90 minutes, it is longer than both “I’m PoPo” and “Man in Hanbok,” while attempting an effects-heavy sci-fi action story without conventional computer graphics. Its producers said they selected about 13,000 AI-generated clips for the final film, discarding even more along the way.
Much of the attention around these projects has centered on what AI could do to the economics of filmmaking. “I’m PoPo” director Kim Il-dong completed the feature in about two months without actors or a conventional production crew, declaring at a press conference that it marked the “beginning of an era of one-person filmmaking.”
“Steelay,” meanwhile, has touted its sub-1 billion won budget as a feat. That is less than one-eighth of the average production cost of 8.36 billion won, excluding marketing expenses, for a commercial Korean film in 2025, as estimated by credit-rating agency NICE Investors Service.
But as cultural critic Sung Sang-min pointed out, “cutting production costs only matters to the people making the film.”
“For audiences, what matters isn’t whether AI was used or not — it’s whether the movie is interesting enough to be worth their time and money,” he said.
He compared the marketing around AI-generated films to the early days of digital cinema, when the technology itself — rather than the movie — was often treated as the selling point.
“That may have had significance on a technological level, but audiences never went to see those films just because they were made that way,” Sung said.
The skepticism extends beyond feature films, as AI-generated images and videos have become increasingly easy to produce and common online.
A survey of 1,000 adults conducted by polling firm Hankook Research in December of last year found that just 15 percent viewed AI-generated images and videos positively, compared with 32 percent who viewed them negatively. Among respondents aged 18 to 29, the negative share rose to 47 percent, while just 14 percent viewed them positively.
Sung pointed to two mainkers and frustration with the formulaic, mass-produced feel of much AI-generated content
“If AI just keeps producing the same basic styles without much thought or effort, people are going to push back against that,” he said.
Largest gov’t support for AI content
Despite that wariness, the government has been moving quickly to expand the use of AI across the content industry.
In January, the National AI Strategy Committee released an action plan calling for broader adoption of AI across the sector, as well as legislation that would give companies greater legal certainty when using copyrighted material to train AI models. The same month, the Korean Film Council (Kofic) launched a new program to support 38 AI-based feature and short films, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency are investing a record 19.8 billion won in AI content production throughout this year on AI content-production programs. Support will range from early-stage projects to globally oriented productions.
The push has drawn resistance from creators. In response to the committee’s action plan, 16 cultural and content-creator organizations accused the government of prioritizing AI companies’ access to copyrighted works over creators’ rights. In a joint statement, the groups argued that the approach could allow AI companies to use copyrighted works “without legal uncertainty” and effectively “for free.”
At Monday’s event, Ha said government support should focus on two areas: giving creators stable access to AI production tools and lowering the cost of using them so that more people can enter the field. Korea currently lacks competitive homegrown video-generation tools, he said, leaving creators dependent on overseas services whose updates, pricing and licensing policies can disrupt production.
“Steelay” offered one example of that dependence. Around 500 million to 600 million won — more than half of the film’s total budget — was spent on generative AI tools, according to Ham Seul-gi, head of AI Know Studio, which co-produced and handled AI production on the film. It received government support in the form of office space from the Seoul Film Commission.
The film’s director, Seol Woo-in, said uncertainty surrounding updates to overseas AI tools was the production team’s “biggest challenge,” as changes to the tools or their credit policies could directly affect the production schedule and budget.
“At one point, a new version of the tool was released after we had already finished about 90 percent of the film, so we had to test it again and make additional revisions,” Seol said.
The creators of “Steelay,” however, argued that government support should not end once an AI film is completed. Ham said existing programs tend to help projects get made, but offer less support once finished works enter the market and have to find audiences.
The filmmakers said bringing “Steelay” to audiences had value in itself, even if the technology was not yet perfect, because releasing such projects could create opportunities for other filmmakers and help build a market for AI-generated films.
“If a film never makes it out into the world, there is no precedent to build on,” Ham said. “Without those examples, the industry cannot develop.”
