Marking its 30th anniversary, Seoul-based media giant CJ ENM unveiled a sweeping artificial-intelligence roadmap at a “K-Content Meets AI” showcase on 30 June, positioning itself to become what executives called a “global AI studio.”
Chief strategy officer Shin Keun-sup said the company is “applying AI across the entire content value chain—including planning, production, distribution and marketing—to secure next-generation IP,” adding that CJ ENM is expanding its specialist workforce so “creativity remains key, even in AI content.”
The centrepiece of the presentation was “Cat Biggie,” a 30-episode, two-minute non-verbal animation produced entirely with proprietary tools Cinematic AI and AI Script by a six-person team in five months. Head of AI business Baek Hyun-jung said the main challenge was “controlling dynamic movements unique to animation,” but the pipeline “allowed a high level of completeness,” and the series will premiere globally on YouTube in July.
Building on the short, CJ ENM plans to deliver its first AI-generated feature film and drama before year-end, extending the technology “across genres and formats,” according to the company and a Deadline briefing of the event. The push follows earlier experiments such as a virtual-production sequence in tvN’s hit melodrama Queen of Tears, crafted with generative AI on CJ ENM’s Paju stage.
Industry observers note that South Korea is simultaneously tightening oversight: January’s AI Framework Act introduces mandatory labelling for generative content, while offering subsidies for innovation. Labour groups remain wary; an international coalition of animation unions last month declared an “emergency” over AI’s potential to erode jobs, and Korea’s Music Copyright Association now requires songwriters to certify zero AI input. A UN trade study meanwhile warns that up to 40 percent of global jobs could be affected within a decade if safeguards lag behind deployment.
CJ ENM argues the technology will expand, not replace, human ingenuity. “Every breakthrough brings worries,” Baek told reporters, but “the discussions will help advance regulations and the market.” With AI-driven costs plummeting across Korea’s screen sector—Cat Biggie was delivered in a fraction of conventional time—investors and regulators alike will be watching whether the studio’s new pipeline becomes a template or a cautionary tale.
