KT commercializes AI-based non-contact service for postnatal care center

SEOUL -- South Korea's biggest telecom company KT has commercialized an artificial intelligence-based automated solution for postnatal care centers like hotel room service. Mothers with newborns can get room service using AI voice assistant speakers.

Postnatal care centers gained popularity in South Korea after it was battered by the 1998 financial crisis that accelerated the emergency of single households. The centers offer a two-week hotel service course, professional childcare, and teach inexperienced mothers how to feed, wash, massage, and play with babies. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, more than 75 percent of mothers used postnatal care centers after childbirth in 2018.

KT said in a statement on February 17 that it has applied "AI Postnatal Care" to a postnatal care center in western Seoul. To prevent the inflow of infectious diseases, postnatal care centers strictly limit visitors. Some centers banned all visitors after a novel coronavirus pandemic erupted in early 2020.

"Because chances of being infected with COVID-19 is very high nowadays, we hope that mothers and their babies experience safety through our AI-based postnatal care center service," KT's Ai and big data business department head Choi Joon-ki was quoted as saying.

KT's AI assistant can minimize face-to-face contact inside centers. Mothers can ask for room services or help using their voice. The robot assistant can used to open curtains, turn on TVs, and control room temperature. Center operators can send messages to mothers and send room service workers.