South Korea begins using AI to support crisis households through initial welfare consultation calls

On the 21st, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it will begin trial operation of an initial welfare consultation telephone service using artificial intelligence (AI) from the 22nd as a support measure for "crisis households" that are struggling to make ends meet or have health problems.
The new initiative will be rolled out in 101 cities, districts and towns across the country. The AI-based initial consultation information system, which has been under construction since July 2023, was completed in May of this year.
The system's stability and convenience will be verified through a trial run starting in July. Until now, local government social welfare officials have directly provided initial consultations to households suspected of being in crisis.
After the person in charge grasped the welfare crisis and need, they provided in-depth consultation and home visits, and then provided welfare services such as social security payments and cooperation with private services.
In the future, at the "initial consultation" stage, the AI system will call relevant households directly and ask common questions about the health, economic, and employment crises.
After the consultation, the AI will provide a scenario-based consultation, including additional questions about crisis information. Local governments participating in the pilot project will send text messages to target households before the AI phone consultation.
The AI system will then call the households at risk that it has identified in advance and provide an initial consultation to determine whether they need welfare assistance.
After the initial consultation using the AI system, the information obtained is automatically provided to local government officials and used as material for further consultations and home visits.
The ministry and the Korea Social Security Information Service conducted the fourth welfare blind spot excavation period from the 22nd to September 13th, during which initial consultations using AI were conducted in 101 cities, districts, and wards.
The plan is to start using AI in 60% of cities, districts, and wards from September, and then expand it nationwide from late November. Lim Eul-gi, welfare administration support officer, said, "By using AI, we can reduce the number of difficult tasks in welfare work.
"We want to be able to provide faster and more detailed support to citizens with disabilities."