Naver takes on big tech giants with homegrown AI services in H2

[Courtesy of Naver]

Amid intense competition for dominance in the field of generative artificial intelligence (AI) among U.S. big tech companies like Google LLC, Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc., Naver has finally responded with its own AI solutions.

Starting with the unveiling of Hyper Clova X, a large-scale language model (LLM) developed in-house, next month, NAVER plans to introduce a variety of generative AI services, ranging from general users to corporate customers, by the end of this year. In September, Naver will also unveil its AI chatbot service.

With AI sovereignty becoming increasingly important, it will be interesting to see how successful Naver will be in establishing its domestic AI services.

On Friday, Naver unveiled a core lineup of generative AI services that the company plans to launch this year through its technology channel, Channel Tech.

Naver will first release Hyper Clova X, an upgraded version of the existing Hyper Clova, on Aug. 24, as scheduled. Hyper Clova is the first hyperscale AI model developed by Naver in Korea and the third in the world in 2021. Naver plans to apply Hyper Clova X to tools for creators, small and medium-sized enterprises, and others active on the Naver platforms.

In particular, in response to the development of the AI app ecosystem, led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT plugin, Naver will launch an interactive agent called Clova X as a beta service next month. Clova X is not just limited to generating answers to questions but also possesses exceptional writing abilities, including creative writing and summarization, making it a valuable productivity tool for individuals, according to the company. Naver also aims to enable the integration of various services in the form of plugins, allowing users to access the required features.

In September, Naver’s next-generation search chatbot, Cue:, will be unveiled in beta service form on the web. The exact date is yet to be announced. Cue: is a search-specialized interactive AI service developed based on Hyper Clova X, utilizing the vast amount of user data and high-quality content accumulated by Naver over the past 20 years.

After the pilot test, Cue: will be partially applied to Naver’s integrated portal site search in November. However, the timing of Cue:’s integration with Naver’s other services, such as shopping, reservations, and payments, has not been determined yet. Ultimately, Cue: aims to embrace multimodal capabilities, recognizing not only text but also images and voice, and providing search results accordingly.

Naver is launching a series of business-to-business (B2B) services as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.

From September, Naver will provide a new version of its writing tool, Clova for Writing, which combines Hyper Clova X with its existing content creation tool, Smart Editor, to selected blog creators. The service will gradually expand after further improvements. Clova for Writing will recommend writing subjects and generate appropriate drafts when users select keywords. Additionally, it will help users edit their writings into better expressions.

In addition, Clova Studio, a hyperscale AI tool offered through Naver’s cloud platform, will be equipped with the Hyper Clova X model. It will be officially launched in October after testing with some enterprises. Enterprise users will be able to combine their own data with Hyper Clova X to build their own productivity-enhancing tools and develop customized AI services.

The market is paying attention to Naver’s moves is due to the importance of AI sovereignty. In the U.S., companies like OpenAI, Google, Amazon.com Inc., Nvidia Corp., Meta, Tesla Inc., and Apple Inc. have all embarked on developing hyperscale AI projects. In China, Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group have also joined the competition. Currently, countries with their own hyperscale AI developments are the U.S., China, Israel, and South Korea. The concern is that if they fall behind in the development race, they could lose their footing in an instant. “We expect that the lineup announcement would serve as a pre-guideline for ecosystem participants,” said Sung Nako, hyperscale AI technical lead at Naver Cloud Corp.