NTU Impact Series: Prof Lee Kwan Min on what AI reveals about how we think
Prof Lee Kwan Min studies how AI and digital media shape the way people think, decide, and trust. His work – supported by The Korea Foundation Professorship – is helping societies navigate social and ethical challenges of an AI-driven world.
Text: Jesmine Ong
For Prof Lee Kwan Min, The Korea Foundation Professor in Contemporary Korean Society and New Media, understanding how technology shapes human behaviour is central to his research.
“What’s striking is how media and digital technologies have become the environment we live in. It’s shaping how we feel, decide, and connect with other people,” he explains.
He adds: “My work examines how humans interact with media and digital technologies, and how these technologies, especially AI today, shape our everyday lives.”
Prof Lee in discussion with his research team.
Studying how ideas spread
Supported by The Korea Foundation Professorship in Korean Studies and New Media, Prof Lee is exploring how technology influences social behaviour on a large scale.
One project uses AI-powered social simulations to study how public opinion forms and spreads through society.
“We build large-scale AI agent models to explore how public opinions form, spread, and shift across society,” he says.
Such models can help researchers better understand social change, civic participation, and public decision-making. In one study, the simulation predicted the outcome of a South Korean election more accurately than forecasts by the country’s three major television networks.
Beyond elections, these insights could help societies counter misinformation, strengthen public communication, and shape digital platforms that build trust. For Prof Lee, research also extends to the classroom. He encourages students to think critically about technology’s influence.
“I encourage students to see technology not as a neutral tool, but as a psychological and cultural force.”
It is an approach that reflects the broader ambition of the professorship: to shape not just research, but how the next generation thinks about technology and society. The professorship is helping ensure that future scholars and communities are better equipped to navigate the social and ethical challenges of an AI-driven world.
Learn more about NTU’s Professorships here.
