South Korea blind fortune-tellers lose clients to AI

Blind fortune-tellers in a Seoul village are losing clients to online AI-powered divination, even as South Korea's wider fortune-telling business grows.

Song Oh-soon, 86, is one of the last visually impaired practitioners in Mia village in northern Seoul, a community that once drew generations of South Koreans seeking advice about illness, money, love and fate. The village was once home to 70 or 80 practitioners, but fewer than 20 remain.

Song uses the “Four Pillars of Destiny” astrology in braille and says careful listening is central to her work. She told AFP that clients once came to her in despair and that she persuaded some to keep living.

The challenge now is not necessarily fading belief in fortune-telling, but a shift to digital services. Startup analysis firm InnoForest said South Korea's fortune-telling business was worth 1.4 trillion won, or $986 million, in 2024. Market researcher Embrain said in a survey this year that many people now use mobile apps and AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini for readings.

Oh Ji-hye, a 44-year-old university professor, said she had used AI readings during her commute before recently contacting Song by phone because of anxiety about her career. She said it felt good to have a person listen to her story rather than AI.

Mia village emerged in 1966 after the first blind fortune-teller settled there, according to the Seongbuk Cultural Centre. The area grew as a fortune-telling hub during Seoul's expansion in the 1970s and 1980s, helped by cheap rents and passing customers.

Song lost her sight after a childhood illness and began studying Korean fortune-telling at 11. She said people with disabilities, especially women, had historically been confined to limited work because of discrimination.

Many remaining practitioners have little online presence and are difficult to find through major search platforms. Song said people were still interested in fortune-telling, but now looked online instead of travelling to the village.