“Creating a World Where Technology Reaches Where It’s Needed”: PPLEZ Expects to Create Social Value With AI Education

– PPLEZ is an AI-driven educational startup that addresses the digital divide by providing customized AI and software training for marginalized groups,including slow learners,multicultural children,and the elderly.
– The company’s flagship platform, “Dream AI Studio,” allows users to create AI-generated picture books through an interactive process that maintains character consistency, helping students with borderline intellectual functioning achieve academic milestones.
– Founded by CEO Beom-june Kim(who also created the blood donation platform ‘PPLE’), PPLEZ has trained over 4,100 students and was recently selected for the DeepTech Early Startup Package to expand its creative tools into video and webtoon production.


As digital transformation accelerates, the educational divide is paradoxically widening. The blind spots that the existing educational system misses—such as slow learners (those with borderline intellectual functioning), multicultural children, the elderly, and people with disabilities—are also expanding. It is a striking irony.

According to the ‘2024 Digital Divide Survey’ by the National Information Society Agency(NIA), the digital informatization level of the four major vulnerable groups (low-income individuals, people with disabilities, farmers and fishers, and the elderly) was recorded at 77.5% compared to the general population average (100%). This reflects a reality where a lack of digital literacy and utilization is deepening social inequality.

The startup PPLEZ focuses on these blind spots. We met with Beom-june Kim, the CEO of PPLEZ, who started with the public interest blood donation platform ‘PPLE’ and transitioned into an AI education company, believing that technology can bridge social gaps.

Pivot from a Blood Donation Platform to an AIEducation Company

PPLEZ is an AI-based digital education startup for the educationally underprivileged. The company focuses on narrowing the digital divide by providing customized AI and SW education for multicultural children, slow learners, adolescents, middle-aged individuals, and the elderly.

Kim did not initially dream of starting a business. The beginning of PPLEZ dates back to 2019. At the time, Kim, then a university student, felt distressed after hearing a story about a seven-year-old child whose surgery was being delayed due to a blood shortage. While looking for ways to help, he utilized his majors in Industrial Engineering and the Department of AI Applications to create PPLE.

In 2022, PPLEZ began in earnest to fill the gaps in the public blood donation system by quickly connecting donors and recipients. It established itself as a blood donation community connecting approximately 1,500 patients and 5,000 donors annually. The platform was even selected as one of the ‘10 Innovative Companies Changing the World with Technology’ by the Brianimpact Foundation, established by Beom-su Kim, the founder of Kakao.

“While operating PPLEZ, I became interested in other fields where technology could transform society,” state Kim. “During that time, a corporate foundation proposed an AI/SW education program using PPLEZ’s technical capabilities. That is how PeopleEDU was born.”

Creating Positive Effects Through Customized Education Tailored to the Audience

PPLEZ began its PeopleEDU journey in 2024 by conducting AI/SW education for underprivileged youth in Nowon-gu, Seoul. The program consisted of 15 students and was diversely structured to cover everything from basics to practical applications.

While the response to the PeopleEDU curriculum was positive, there were limitations. Cases emerged where students did not have smartphones or found it difficult to complete guardian authentication due to the absence of parents. Kim felt the need for PeopleEDU’s own AI education tool. Based on on-site experience, he subsequently developed ‘Dream AI Studio’ and introduced it as the core service of PeopleEDU.

Dream AI Studio is a creative platform that allows anyone to create content using AI. Its primary feature is AI picture book creation, which enables everything from idea generation through AI chatting to storyline creation and scene-by-scene illustration production. The final result is provided in the form of a picture book.

There were further unexpected problems. Some adolescents could not keep up with the education. Even when changing the teaching methods or content, this issue persisted. Kim recalled, “The students who couldn’t follow were slow learners with an IQ between 71 and 84. I realized that while they are not classified as having a disability, they find it difficult to follow general educational curriculums. At that moment, I became acutely aware that ‘education is not reaching the places where it is truly needed.’”

Since then, with support from LG and Shinhan Life, PPLEZ designed a customized education program for slow learners using Dream AI Studio. The goal of the program was to enable students to submit school performance assessments on their own. The result of the five-month long-term curriculum was positive. In fact, one student who previously could not submit performance assessments alone gained confidence after completing their own picture book with Dream AI Studio, and later became capable of using various other AI tools. Most importantly, the student achieved the educational goal by submitting a school performance assessment independently. Kim noted, “It was a case that demonstrated how AI can be used as a tool to supplement a student’s deficiencies. It was even more meaningful because the student gained a sense of achievement, thinking ‘I can do it too.’”

Having witnessed the positive effects of PeopleEDU, Kim expanded the target audience beyond underprivileged youth and slow learners to include children, the middle-aged, the elderly, and people with disabilities. He embarked on developing various contents while conducting customized AI-based education for them. All education was based on the standard of ‘allowing anyone to pioneer their own future.’ Consequently, the cumulative number of students has reached approximately 4,100.

“The biggest differentiator of PPLEZ is that we operate our self-developed Dream AI Studio while simultaneously providing education directly in the field,” emphasized Kim. “PPLEZ does not just create technology; we meet students directly on the ground. We can quickly identify how our technology is actually being used and where problems arise, then reflect those findings back into the service.”

Success in Technological Development Overcoming Character Consistency Issues
Difficulties also accompanied PPLEZ’s growth process. First, the development of Dream AI Studio was not smooth. The biggest initial hurdle was that the appearance of characters generated by AI changed in every scene. Kim shared, “One student burst into tears when the protagonist of the picture book they were creating changed races in every scene. This became the catalyst for us to immerse ourselves in developing character consistency technology.”

PPLEZ succeeded in developing its own character consistency maintenance technology and high-speed image generation technology, applying them to Dream AI Studio. Additionally, in 2025, the company was selected for the Industry-Academic-Research Collaboration R&D project by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. This is a project designed to promote the innovative growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and support job creation by activating collaborative R&D among industry, academia, and research institutes. PPLEZ plans to focus on researching related core technologies for two years.

Quality education also requires excellent instructors. Accordingly, Kim worked hard to train instructors tailored to the target audiences nationwide. By establishing a professional instructor training program and system for AI digital and related roles or education majors, the company now operates a pool of approximately 300 personnel. This has also led to job creation for individuals whose careers were interrupted in those fields.

Since then, PPLEZ has expanded its business by collaborating with numerous corporations and institutions, including the KT Hope Sharing Foundation, the Samsung Dream Scholarship Foundation, and the Brianimpact Foundation. The company also earned the honor of receiving the Minister of Education Award at the Korea Talent Award, as well as certification as a preliminary social enterprise by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Notably, in 2025, PPLEZ was selected for the DeepTech Early Startup Package project by the Startup Support Foundation of Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech). Kim stated, “Through this project, we have received government support for the technological advancement of Dream AI Studio and the expansion of educational content. I believe this is a result of being recognized not only for PPLEZ’s technical prowess but also for the potential to create social value through education.” He added, “Using this support as a stepping stone, we plan to further upgrade the functions of Dream AI Studio and expand the development of content applicable to various educational settings.”

Plans for Advanced Features from Picture Books to Videos and Webtoons

Some express concern that generative AI might actually degrade creativity and thinking skills. Regarding this, Kim presented a clear educational philosophy: “As I moved into the education business, I constantly asked myself, ‘Is it really education if everything is created with just one button?’ The conclusion is that AI should not provide the final answer, but rather serve as a tool that draws out a student’s imagination and helps them ask the right questions

Kim’s educational philosophy is also reflected in Dream AI Studio. It is designed in a way where the AI asks questions and the student answers to create their own story. “The core educational philosophy of PeopleEDU is to cultivate the ability to ask the right questions—the most important competency in the AI era—and to provide the experience of creating something of one’s own,” emphasized Kim.

PPLEZ is focusing on advancing the features of Dream AI Studio. Beyond AI picture book creation, the company plans to add features for producing various creative works such as videos and webtoons. As Physical AI has recently been gaining attention, the company will also begin related education in earnest.

Kim revealed his ambitions, saying, “The ultimate goal of PPLEZ is to help anyone pioneer their own future using AI and to create a world where technology reaches the places where it is truly needed. We will provide customized education and AI tools to various groups, ranging from youth to seniors, people with disabilities, and small business owners.”

Attention is being focused on the next steps of PPLEZ, which has expanded the horizons of technology while keeping ‘People’ at the center, from PPLE to PeopleEDU.

By Kui-im Park ([email protected])