Korea Digital DNA Center (KDDC) announced Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with TNT Company to pursue a digital content project linking sports athletes' intellectual property with generative AI technology.
The agreement aims to explore ways to connect the IP of media professionals and KPGA and KLPGA tour professionals in the domestic golf sector with digital DNA technology. The two companies agreed to go beyond simple content production and examine new possibilities for using players' IP in digital environments while protecting their rights.
KDDC will build digital DNA from players' unique attributes — including facial features, expressions, voice and movement — based on prior consent, and will support a rights-protection framework for the secure management and use of that data. TNT Company will draw on its network of media professionals and KPGA and KLPGA tour professionals to support player participation, content planning and related project development.
The two companies plan to carry out the collaboration in stages, covering: the construction of digital DNA profiles for media professionals and KPGA and KLPGA tour professionals; research into generative AI-based advertising, short-form and digital human content; the establishment of legal standards for using players' IP; and the joint development of a digital content model for the sports sector.
Jung Eui-seok, chief executive of KDDC, said athletes' likenesses and characters are "important IP assets that require rights protection and management standards before any technology application." He added that the company would use the agreement to build "a responsible AI content utilization model grounded in player consent and rights protection."
Jung Woo-seok, chief executive of TNT Company, said a key purpose of the agreement was "to lay the groundwork for media professionals and active tour professionals to safely use their own IP in digital environments." He said the two sides would work toward "a sustainable cooperation model that benefits both athletes and the industry."
yjc@heraldcorp.com
