For centuries, knowledge, wisdom and advice came with a face. These faces belonged to teachers, professors, parents, religious leaders and senior colleagues. If you wanted answers, you had to ask someone. In many Asian cultures, this often meant navigating hierarchy, social expectations and the fear of appearing ignorant. Today, however, people increasingly turn to something different. Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered the chat — quite literally. Perhaps the most revolutionary thing about AI is not that it knows so much. It’s that it never makes you feel foolish. AI doesn’t roll its eyes when you ask a question. It doesn’t remind you that you should already know the answer. It doesn’t become impatient when you ask the same thing five times. It simply responds, sometimes even with compliments. In societies where hierarchy remains a powerful social force, this changes more than the way we access information. It changes relationships. Korea has long benefited from a culture that values respect, discipline and expertise. But hierarchy can also discourage questioning. The fe