Ko Ho-dam, a high school junior on South Korea’s Jeju Island, was at first curious to hear that the government planned to roll out artificial intelligence-powered textbooks. The program would provide personalized learning for students, help prevent dropouts, and reduce the workload of teachers, authorities promised. The program — a flagship initiative of former President Yoon Suk Yeol — took shape over the last year and a half, with about a dozen publishers approved to develop the digital textbo...