Field Report from Sogang University Graduate School of Metaverse Summer Workshop, June 28, 2025

Saturday afternoon, June 28, 2025. Walking through the alleys from Hapjeong Station, a complex cultural space called "Debunk" reveals itself in a corner. This usually quiet space had a different atmosphere that day. As 4 PM approached, people entered one by one, quietly taking seats with coffee in hand. Without particular announcements, gazes naturally gathered toward the stage. At exactly 4 PM, a familiar face stood at the microphone: Professor Hyun Dae-won, Dean of Sogang University Graduate School of Metaverse and that day speaker. The manner was calm, but wit remained evident in the laughter that emerged between sentences. Turning the first slide, Dean Hyun threw out the opening topic: "AIX. The era of AI great transformation." The lecture that began in this small Hapjeong space was far from a simple technology briefing -- it felt like simulating what happens when the near-arriving future meets today reality. Core thesis: AI transformation is not simply "AI tools replacing human work" but "AIX (AI Experience) -- a fundamental redesign of how humans experience everything through AI mediation." The distinction matters: if AI replaces work tasks, humans with rare skills can resist displacement; if AI transforms experience, everyone must adapt regardless of current skill level. The three AIX waves Dean Hyun identified: (1) AI as tool -- narrow capability AI used for specific tasks (current mainstream); (2) AI as collaborator -- AI that participates in creative and knowledge work (emerging); (3) AI as infrastructure -- AI so embedded in systems that removing it breaks the system (future destination). The "design or be displaced" message: organizations and individuals that design how AI integrates into their work maintain agency; those who wait for AI to be implemented around them lose agency over how their work changes; the AIX lecture framing puts the responsibility for AI era outcomes on active design choices rather than passive adaptation to market forces.