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What Makes Parents Who Can't Accept Their Children's Developmental Disability Change Their Minds? AI-Powered Behavior Analysis

An Exclusive Interview with Hyun Soo Park, CEO of PLAYTAG

Hyun Soo Park, CEO of PLAYTAG ⓒPLAYTAG

When the daycare teacher first told me about my child’s behavioral problems, I thought, “No way.” Even though the teacher repeatedly recommended treatment, I rejected it because she couldn’t guarantee the reliability of the observation result. After that, I thought everything would be fine, but it turns out I just didn’t want to accept the truth. 

- “My child has a developmental disorder? No way…” 

Of course, I know that’s how almost all parents feel. I seem to deceive myself into thinking that my beloved child can’t be like that. 

It was after meeting PLAYTAG’s AI-powered solution called StoryLine that I gradually opened the door that had been persistently shut tight. The moment clear and vivid data poured down like a bolt from the blue, I couldn’t help but grab my child’s hand. “Data and AI don’t lie.” My eyes suddenly opened — “I need to be courageous.”

StoryLine changed my child’s life, and will do so for the world. I wonder what kind of dream is StoryLine, the key to that decisive scene, dreaming of? We met with Hyun Soo Park, CEO of PLAYTAG, who is also well known as an authority on 3D Computer Vision, Behavioral Reconstruction, and Recognition. 

The Dawn of a Better World: The Emergence of the “Observer”

PLAYTAG is an AI-based behavioral analysis technology startup. Founded in 2022, it is a technology company that develops a behavioral analysis foundation model and is a catalyst for creating a ‘better world’ by creating social impact through Artificial Intelligence. 

According to Hyun Soo Park, CEO of PLAYTAG, PLAYTAG is providing various behavioral analysis services to customers through the foundation model, and mainly providing StoryLine, an infant/toddler behavioral analysis solution for teachers and parents at early childhood education institutions. 

“I started my business with the thought that the research results on AI-based behavioral analysis technology could be helpful to our society. The need for behavioral analysis is the greatest and will have the greatest impact, hence I decided to challenge the early childhood education and childcare market first,” notes Park. 

So what are the Strengths of StoryLine? 

Up to now, observations in early childhood education institutions have tended to depend entirely on teachers. Furthermore, in the field, it has been difficult for teachers to observe all children closely and for long periods of time due to the high ratio of teachers to children and additional tasks such as writing notices.

Now, things are different. “AI can observe children and fill in the gaps that teachers have missed,” Park says. “StoryLine is a service that observes each child accurately, continuously, and objectively through the PlayLens observation system installed in the classroom, and provides the results to teachers and parents.”

The ‘concentration’ of the solution also differs.

“Existing video analytics technologies rely on machine learning, which necessitates the daily collection and labeling of extensive datasets for new tasks, such as identifying suspicious or risky behavior. This process is labor-intensive and resource-intensive, restricting its application to limited domains. On the other hand, PlayTag harnesses vast amounts of 3D data from real-world environments where people live and interact. This enables the development of a powerful, generalizable AI model, one that serves as a foundational framework capable of interpreting human behavior with near-human intuition,” Park explains. 

Park adds, “The model also enables transfer learning with a small amount of data for new tasks. Rather than simply relying on mechanical observation, the model allows AI to develop a deeper understanding of people by integrating vast amounts of existing data with the latest information.”

From AI Insights to Real-World Impact

Across 71 classrooms (and counting), StoryLine has already driven four impactful interventions. “In the case of Y Daycare Center, there was a case where we recommended treatment to the parents after seeing the child's problem behavior, but they refused because the reliability of the observation results at the time could not be guaranteed.” Park continues, “After introducing the StoryLine, teachers are more confident to present quantitative data on the child's behavior analysis, and the parent accepts it more comfortably, and the child can receive developmental treatment timely.”

PLAYTAG provides behavioral analysis data to early childhood education institutions through Storyline Daily (daily data) and Storyline Report (monthly data), enabling teachers to better understand children, streamline their work, and improve parent communication. Beyond supporting educators, StoryLine also helps guardians gain insights into their child's natural behavior, peer interactions, and activity levels. Storyline aims to extend its services to over 300 classes by the new semester by 2025, reinforcing its commitment to advancing early childhood education.

Global Vision: The Next Chapter of StoryLine 

Since transitioning to a paid service in August 2024, Storyline has been actively expanding its reach across the country. Park emphasizes, “Storyline is showing explosive growth domestically and is using this momentum to expand overseas. We are selecting sales partners through our U.S. branch, and we are planning a PoC in early 2025 and a formal service in September 2025, while also actively pursuing expansion into English-speaking countries in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore).”

Moreover, responding to privacy concerns surrounding the platform’s observation-based technology, Park highlighted that video recording with Vision AI is conducted only with prior consent. The service is provided exclusively after obtaining explicit authorization for personal data collection from users or their guardians.

About the future of PLAYTAG, Park expressed his enthusiasm, “We are pursuing the generalization and commercialization of the behavioral analysis foundation model, and our model will be applied across various behavior-driven industries, such as collaborative robots and smart factories.”

By the first half of 2025, PLAYTAG plans to launch the first model’s API for monetization, designed to collect 3D data while integrating services from infant and education institutions and tailoring solutions to meet various behavior-related industry demands.

Source: https://www.econovill.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=667769