Lee Soo Man Accused Of Exploiting Underage Idols Under New Company

Former SM Entertainment head Lee Soo Man is yet again at the center of controversy over the mistreatment of his idols after debuting two new groups under his new company, A2O Entertainment.

Lee Soo Man marked his thunderous return to the K-Pop scene with the twin debut of his boy group, A2O Soul, and girl group, A2O Lite, on October 12, KST.

While the music from both groups has received enthusiastic reception from K-Pop fans globally, another aspect of their management has triggered heated backlash online: the AI idol phone call service.

An idol phone call, powered by AI? 📱

KpopHerald tried it at A2O’s debut showcase!

The service lets fans interact with AI versions of idols through voice and video calls. Here’s a look at our hands-on experience at “Welcome to Soulite From A2O Soul A2O Lite,” held at KINTEX in… pic.twitter.com/Isa81VXT87

— KpopHerald (@Kpop_Herald) October 13, 2026

At the A2O groups’ debut showcase, this particular service was also made available for media personnel to try out. Reports showed that the service enabled fans to talk to young idols as if it were a normal phone call, but the responses were AI-generated. Essentially, to create this service, the likeness and voice of all the A2O idols were fed into AI programs to turn them into AI-avatars.

This service, in particular, has left many fans concerned and unsettled. Many pointed out that this was exploitative, and given that all the idols under the company were extremely young and underage, it also made them vulnerable to disturbing possibilities.

BOYCOTT A2O

No elementary school student’s identity should be put through a flirty chatbot profile.

End the exploitation of elementary and middle school students in kpop.

All companies should wait until a person can bare minimum take a college exam to debut them as an idol. pic.twitter.com/swL07QP2BB

— ☾ #MakeItGWSN ✩ (@Recipe4Groo) October 12, 2026

yay omg real kpop is back !! (AI likeness of a 13 year old girl telling you just what you want to hear ❤️)

— van ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ (@kumyalyric) October 13, 2026

they’re literally feeding these childrens voices and images into AI allowing grown men to text and voice call them making them do everything they want that’s just disgusting

— –m (@sjnicln) October 13, 2026

we are in hell

— cara 🌸 🔜 lsfm london! (@mugicara) October 13, 2026

this is so disturbing especially since almost all of the members are minors

— the goobster (@IittIemonsterr) October 13, 2026

Check out more reactions to Lee Soo Man’s comeback to the K-Pop industry:

Lee Soo Man’s New Girl Group Garners Unexpected Response From K-Netizens