Smilegate Future Lab marks 10th anniversary with education conference featuring MIT, Stanford scholars

Smilegate Future Lab held a 10th anniversary education conference alongside leading scholars from MIT and Stanford, bringing together education experts to discuss the essence of learning in the age of AI.

Smilegate Future Lab said Monday it hosted the Future Lab 10th Anniversary Education Conference, titled "The Future Is on Stage: Redefining Learning, AI and Agency." The event ran June 20-21 at the Smilegate Campus in Pangyo, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

The conference centered on how to cultivate "agency" — the capacity for people to go beyond simply consuming AI and become creators in their own right. The event also brought together a decade of creative education developed by Future Lab.

On the first day, global scholars took the stage to make the case for human-centered learning. Mitchel Resnick, vice president of Future Lab and a professor at MIT Media Lab, emphasized the importance of creative environments. Ge Wang, director of Stanford's Human-Centered AI research program, highlighted the educational value of what he called "intentional friction" — the productive struggle that comes from wandering and failing. Ariam Mogos, also a Stanford professor, argued that the next generation must grow into active designers of technology rather than passive users.

The conference also featured real-world examples of those ideas in practice. Director Kim Na-young, who produced a short film through Future Lab's AI filmmaking workshop, attended and shared her experience of directing and controlling the technology in the creative process.

A self-directed creative workshop for children and teenagers ages 9 to 12 ran alongside the main program. Participants explored a digital creative environment through "Aha-oho," a creative-learning community application developed by Future Lab.

On the second day, an educator workshop examined the methodology behind Future Lab's "hybrid creative environment" research. Educators took part in six workshops — including "Linked Body" and "Shadow Remix" — led by MIT Media Lab researchers and artists, blending cutting-edge technology with analog sensory experience.

Smilegate said 400 educators and parents attended the conference. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to support the spread of creative education in the AI era.

"For the past 10 years, Future Lab has been a grand laboratory for shifting the paradigm from 'teaching' to 'learning by making,'" said Mitchel Resnick, vice president of Smilegate Future Lab. "Even as AI brings unprecedented change to our times, I hope that creative environments — including agency — can serve as a guiding light for education in Korea."