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“Through artificial intelligence (AI)-based education, the company aims to enable anyone to pioneer their own future.”

The faster digital transformation accelerates, the wider the education gap becomes. The blind spots in the existing education system—such as slow learners (borderline intellectual functioning), children from multicultural families, older adults, and persons with disabilities—are also expanding. It is an ironic situation.

According to the Korea Intelligent Information Society Agency (NIA)’s “2024 Survey on the Digital Information Gap,” the level of digital informatization among the four major vulnerable groups (low-income persons, persons with disabilities, farmers and fishers, and older adults) was measured at 77.5% of the general population average (100%). This shows that a lack of digital competency and utilization is exacerbating social inequality.


Startup PPLEZ focuses on this blind spot. ITDongA spoke with CEO Kim Beom-jun of PPLEZ, who believes that technology can narrow social gaps, about the company’s journey from launching “PPLE Blood Donation,” a public-interest blood donation platform, to transforming into an AI education company.

Business transition from blood donation platform to AI education company

PPLEZ is an AI-based digital education startup for education-vulnerable groups. The company is dedicated to closing the digital divide by providing customized AI·SW (software) education to children from multicultural families, slow learners, adolescents, middle-aged and older adults.

CEO Kim did not dream of founding a company from the outset. The origins of PPLEZ date back to 2019. While a university student at the time, Kim came across a story about a seven-year-old child whose surgery was being delayed due to a shortage of blood and felt compelled to help. Looking for a way to contribute, he leveraged his majors in industrial engineering and applied artificial intelligence to create PPLE Blood Donation.

PPLE Blood Donation began full-scale operations in 2022, quickly connecting blood donors with recipients and filling blind spots in the public blood donation system. It established itself as a blood donation community linking about 1,500 patients and 5,000 blood donors annually. The company was also selected by the Brian Impact Foundation—founded by Kakao Chairperson Kim Beom-su—as one of the “10 Innovative Companies Changing the World with Technology.”

CEO Kim said, “Operating PPLE Blood Donation sparked my interest in other areas where technology could change society. Around that time, a corporate foundation proposed AI·SW education programs that could leverage PPLEZ’s technological capabilities. This led to the birth of PeopleEDU.”

Customized education by target group generates positive outcomes

PPLEZ began the journey of PeopleEDU in 2024 by providing AI·SW education to vulnerable adolescents in Nowon-gu, Seoul. The program was composed of 15 students and was designed in a diverse format, enabling them to learn everything from basic concepts to practical applications.

The response to the PeopleEDU education program was positive, but there were also limitations. Some students did not have smartphones, and others could not obtain guardian verification due to absence of parents. CEO Kim realized that PeopleEDU needed its own AI education tool. Based on on-site experience, the company subsequently developed “Dream AI Studio” and introduced it as PeopleEDU’s core service.


Dream AI Studio is a creation platform that allows anyone to use AI to produce content. Its main feature is AI picture book creation, which enables users to go from ideation via AI chat to storyline generation and illustration production by scene. The completed output is provided in picture book form.

There were more unforeseen challenges. Some adolescents could not keep up with the classes. Changing teaching methods or content did not solve the problem. CEO Kim recalled, “The adolescents who could not follow the education were slow learners with IQs between 71 and 84. They are not classified as having disabilities, but we realized they have difficulty following a general curriculum,” adding, “At that moment, I became aware that education was not reaching those who truly needed it.”

PPLEZ subsequently designed a customized education program for slow learners using Dream AI Studio with support from LG and Shinhan Life. The goal of the program was to enable students to submit school performance assessments on their own. Conducted over a long-term period of five months, the program delivered positive results. In one case, a student who had never been able to submit performance assessments independently gained confidence after completing a personal picture book using Dream AI Studio, and later became able to use various AI tools. Most importantly, the student successfully submitted a school performance assessment independently, thus achieving the educational objective. CEO Kim commented, “This case demonstrated that AI can be used as a tool to supplement students’ deficiencies. It was especially meaningful because the student experienced a sense of achievement, thinking ‘I can do it too.’”


Encouraged by the positive impact of PeopleEDU, CEO Kim expanded the target audience beyond vulnerable adolescents and slow learners to include children, middle-aged and older adults, and persons with disabilities. The company began developing a variety of content while providing customized, AI-based education to these groups. All educational programs were designed based on the principle of “enabling anyone to pioneer their own future.” As a result, the accumulated number of learners has reached approximately 4,100.

CEO Kim stated, “The biggest differentiator for PPLEZ is that we operate the self-developed Dream AI Studio while directly delivering education in the field,” and emphasized, “PPLEZ does not just build technology; we meet students in person on-site. This allows us to quickly identify how our technology is actually used and where problems arise, and to reflect those insights in our services.”

Character consistency challenge... successful technology development

The growth process of PPLEZ was not without difficulties. The development of Dream AI Studio, in particular, did not proceed smoothly. The biggest initial challenge was that the appearance of AI-generated characters changed from scene to scene. CEO Kim explained, “One student burst into tears when the protagonist character of the picture book they created changed race in different scenes. This incident prompted us to focus on developing character consistency technology.”


PPLEZ successfully developed proprietary character consistency maintenance technology and high-speed image generation technology and applied them to Dream AI Studio. The company was also selected in 2025 for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Industry-Academia-Research Collaboration (Collabo) R&D program. This project aims to promote innovation-driven growth of SMEs and job creation by vitalizing collaborative R&D among industry, academia, and research institutions, and PPLEZ plans to focus on related fundamental technologies over a two-year period.

High-quality education requires excellent instructors. To that end, CEO Kim worked to train instructors tailored to the educational needs of target groups nationwide. By building a professional instructor training program and system for AI digital and related occupational fields or education majors, the company now operates a pool of about 300 instructors. This has also created jobs for individuals with career breaks in related professions.

PPLEZ then expanded its business by collaborating with various companies and institutions such as the KT Hope Sharing Foundation, Samsung Dream Scholarship Foundation, and the Brian Impact Foundation. The company also received preliminary social enterprise certification from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and was honored with the Korea Talent Award, the Minister of Education’s Award.

In particular, PPLEZ was selected in 2025 for the Deep-Tech Initial Start-up Package program run by the Startup Support Group at Seoul National University of Science and Technology. CEO Kim said, “Through this program, we will receive government support for advancing the technology of Dream AI Studio and expanding our educational content,” adding, “We believe this recognizes not only PPLEZ’s technological capabilities but also its potential to create social value through education.” He continued, “Using this support as a springboard, we plan to further advance Dream AI Studio’s features and expand the development of content applicable to various educational settings.”

Plans to enhance features beyond picture books to video and webtoons

Some observers express concern that generative AI may actually diminish creativity and thinking skills. In response, CEO Kim said, “As we scaled up the education business, I repeatedly asked myself whether it truly qualifies as education if everything is created with the press of a button,” and clarified his educational philosophy by stating, “The conclusion is that AI should not be a tool that provides the answers, but one that draws out students’ imagination and helps them ask the right questions.”


CEO Kim’s educational philosophy is reflected in Dream AI Studio as well. The platform is designed so that AI asks questions and students respond, creating their own stories. CEO Kim emphasized, “The core educational philosophy of PeopleEDU is to foster the ability to ask the right questions—a key competency in the AI era—and to provide experiences in which students independently create something of their own.”

PPLEZ is focusing on advancing the capabilities of Dream AI Studio. The company plans to expand beyond AI picture book creation to include features for producing various types of creative works, such as videos and webtoons. With growing attention on Physical AI, the company also intends to roll out related education programs in earnest.

CEO Kim stated, “PPLEZ’s ultimate goal is to help anyone harness AI independently to pioneer their own future and to create a world where technology reaches those who truly need it,” adding, “We will provide customized education and AI tools to a wide range of groups, including not only adolescents but also seniors, persons with disabilities, and small business owners.”

Attention is now focused on PPLEZ’s next steps as it continues to expand the scope of its technology with “people” at the center, from PPLE to PeopleEDU.

Reporter Park Gwi-im, ITDongA (luckyim@itdonga.com)

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