Latest news with #Kanana
Korea Herald
17-03-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Microsoft CEO to meet Korean business leaders in AI tour
Satya Nadella's Seoul visit comes after AI partnership announcement with KT, LG Electronics Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is set to visit Korea for the first time in over two years, meeting with top executives from major domestic companies as part of his tour to expand artificial intelligence partnerships. Nadella is scheduled to hold discussions with business leaders, including KT Corp. CEO Kim Young-shub, LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, HD Hyundai Executive Vice Chairman Chung Ki-sun, Amorepacific Chairman Suh Kyung-bae and Korea Development Bank Chairman Kang Seog-hoon, according to industry sources on Monday. The visit underscores Microsoft's commitment to deepening its collaboration with Korean enterprises, as AI technology evolves into a fundamental driver across various industries. Microsoft has been consistently reinforcing its partnerships with Korean companies in recent years. In September, the US IT giant signed a strategic agreement with KT, pledging to invest a combined 2.4 trillion won ($1.65 billion) over five years in the development of AI models and cloud services tailored to the Korean market. Beginning in the first quarter of this year, Microsoft and KT are co-managing the AI transformation strategic fund, in which KT has invested 13 billion won, while Microsoft contributes computing infrastructure, including GPUs. Through this initiative, KT expects to secure over 10,000 GPUs. Microsoft also announced a strategic partnership with LG Electronics at CES 2025 in Las Vegas in January, focusing on AI advancement. Following the announcement, Nadella personally commented on LG Electronics CEO's LinkedIn post, stating his excitement about shaping the future of AI together. Cho responded by expressing enthusiasm about the partnership's immense potential. Nadella's visit marks his return to Korea after November 2022. He will deliver the opening keynote speech at the Microsoft AI Tour in Seoul on March 26, discussing how AI is transforming daily life and business operations worldwide, including in Korea. Beyond Nadella, global IT leaders are increasingly turning their attention to Korea. Several high-profile tech executives have been making trips to the country in the first half of this year. Following OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's visit last month -- where he met with leading Korean business figures including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won -- OpenAI and Kakao announced a collaboration to integrate OpenAI's technology into Kakao's new conversational AI service Kanana. Additionally, Snowflake co-founders Benoit Dageville and Thierry Cruanes plan to visit Korea for the first time since the company's founding in 2012, introducing new AI strategies aimed at the Korean market. Sources say these high-profile visits underscore Korea's growing appeal as a testbed for new technologies such as AI and cloud services, citing the nation's rapid technology adoption and well-developed AI ecosystem, among other things. 'Despite its relatively small market size, Korea quickly adopts AI technologies and has a robust AI ecosystem. Many global firms see it as an ideal environment for testing and refining their AI solutions,' said an industry source, who asked for anonymity. As global tech giants continue to enhance their partnerships with Korean companies, these collaborations are expected to drive innovation in AI and data analytics while contributing positively to the country's economic landscape.
Korea Herald
18-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Naver, Kakao step up AI game as DeepSeek shakes market
DeepSeek sparks AI arms race, forcing Korean tech firms to act fast or fall behind Naver and Kakao, the nation's top two internet companies, are intensifying their competition in artificial intelligence. Each takes significant steps to secure a competitive edge in the fast-evolving industry, while the Chinese AI service DeepSeek threatens to disrupt current AI market leaders. Kakao has become the first Korean company to establish a strategic partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to collaborate on technology and product development. Kakao plans to integrate OpenAI technology into services such as its mobile messenger KakaoTalk and AI agent service Kanana. Additionally, Kakao has decided to adopt OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise solution. The IT giant is set to leverage both its language model and OpenAI's model in the development of Kanana. The AI agent service is designed to facilitate more meaningful interactions by providing context-aware responses not only in one-on-one conversations but also in group chats. Market experts see Kakao's latest move favorably, though they stress the need for tangible outcomes. Seo Jung-yeon, an analyst at Shin Young Securities, said, 'The collaboration with OpenAI is expected to contribute to the successful launch of Kanana. However, the real challenge lies in demonstrating profitability and monetization through AI technology.' Its crosstown rival Naver is focusing on a sovereign AI strategy. While the company remains open to collaborations with global tech firms, it continues to focus on refining its AI models. Naver's on-service AI strategy integrates advanced AI technology into services including search, commerce and content. It is expected to advance its AI business agenda at the upcoming general shareholders' meeting next month, where the return of founder Lee Hae-jin as a board member will be formally approved. With AI transformation reshaping the global tech landscape, the comeback of such a pivotal figure carries significant implications for Naver's future strategy. During an earnings conference call last week, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said, 'This year marks a crucial period for fully implementing our on-service AI strategy across Naver's entire service ecosystem.' She also lauded the emergence of DeepSeek, calling it an 'innovative milestone' that proves how latecomers can challenge industry leaders with relatively small-scale investments. 'This trend is encouraging and presents an opportunity for us as well,' she said. Naver anticipates that the emergence of cost-effective AI models will enhance its service competitiveness. With lower operational costs, the company aims to refine its AI-driven services further, making them more efficient and accessible. 'Until now, Naver's AI business was considered inferior to global tech giants. However, with the emergence of companies like DeepSeek, it has become possible to achieve a certain level of AI competency without massive investment. Naver's on-service AI strategy is already driving increased traffic, user engagement, and revenue growth in key areas such as advertising, commerce and fintech,' said Ahn Jae-min, an analyst at NH Investment and Securities. As Kakao makes bold moves with OpenAI, there is growing curiosity about whether Naver will follow suit by forging its own alliance with a global AI leader. While SK Telecom and KT Corp. have partnered with Perplexity AI and Microsoft, respectively, Naver has hinted at potential collaborations. Any chance of unlikely alliance? Despite these efforts, some experts say Naver and Kakao have been too slow to respond to advancements in AI. They suggest that both companies, spurred by the sudden emergence of DeepSeek, are now acting with urgency during what they believe is a critical window of one to two years. 'It seems that both companies can no longer afford to delay,' said Jeon Seong-min, a business administration professor at Gachon University. 'Kakao appears to prioritize application-driven collaboration with OpenAI rather than developing a foundational model. Meanwhile, under the direct leadership of its founder, Naver seems to recognize the need to present a new company strategy for the AI era.' Some experts view the rivalry as an opportunity for the two internet giants to discover new business models, but they also argue that cooperation may be necessary. 'In other countries leading AI innovation, governments play a strong leadership role and provide substantial subsidies,' said Lee Sung-yeop, a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of Management of Technology. 'Although the Korean government is taking similar steps, the scale of our companies is relatively small. Rather than battling each other, alliances may be necessary to compete globally.'
Korea Herald
13-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Kakao to launch new AI service with OpenAI this year
Kakao Corp. on Thursday said it plans to launch a new AI-powered service with ChatGPT operator OpenAI later this year, as the Korean messenger giant ramps up its AI push through partnerships to stay ahead in the competitive landscape. During the company's earnings call for the October-December 2024 period, Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a outlined the company's goals and its blueprint for artificial intelligence, including its recently announced high-profile partnership with OpenAI. 'The strategic partnership with OpenAI is not just limited to model-related collaborations, but also includes joint service development between the two companies,' Chung told investors. She emphasized that the firms' mission is to popularize AI, enabling South Korean users to incorporate the technology into their daily lives. Under this mission, the two firms plan to roll out an AI agent that will go beyond the simple question and answer functions and perform highly-personalized and complex tasks across various services. 'We will do our best for users to experience this service within this year,' said Chung, without elaborating on the timing. In addition, Chung said Kakao's new conversational AI service, Kanana, has completed in-house beta tests and is currently working on the final touches to improve functions based on user feedback. She added that Kanana will be open for public beta testing in the first half of this year. The new service will enable multiple users to interact with the AI, such as in group chat settings. Furthermore, Kakao aims to enhance its search capabilities by integrating generative AI across its services. On Thursday, Kakao reported consolidated revenue of 1.95 trillion won for the October-December period last year, down 2 percent on-year. Its operating profit declined 33.7 percent on-year to 106.7 billion won. The company attributed the decline partly to a one-time bad debt expense incurred by its payment subsidiary, Kakao Pay, due to the Tmon incident. The e-commerce platform failed to pay vendors due to a liquidity crisis, forcing Kakao to make refunds to users. A decrease in revenue from its content businesses, including the music, game and story units, also weighed on the firm's overall earnings. As for 2024 overall, Kakao reported an annual revenue of 7.87 trillion won, up 4.2 percent from 2023. Its operating profit increased 6.6 percent on-year to 491.5 billion won.
