Naver, Kakao to unveil AI services updates, achievements

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon and Lee Eun-joo]

Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., two of South Korea’s information technology (IT) companies, are accelerating the development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) services.

With global tech giants including Microsoft Corp., Google LLC, and Apple Inc. incorporating generative AI into their product platforms to attract users, Naver and Kakao are strategically focused on securing their Korea strongholds in the search and messaging sectors respectively.

According to the IT industry on Tuesday, Naver plans to hold its annual conference on AI business at the end of August 2024, where it will present significant updates and advances in building and commercializing the AI ecosystem.

Naver noted that its generative AI development tool, CLOVA Studio, introduced or is preparing to introduce HyperCLOVA X to a total of 2,156 companies across 11 industries. It is aiming to achieve a tangible AI effect by focusing on search, commerce, and community services to create a lock-in effect for users.

Naver has been continuously refining its conversational AI agent, CLOVA X, launched last year, to significantly reduce hallucinations. For the AI search service Cue:, which is integrated into the Naver portal, Naver plans to release a mobile version and apply multimodal services by the third quarter of 2024.

Naver has completed much of the internal development for HyperCLOVA X’s multimodal technology, including image and video generation, but is still optimizing costs and other business-related aspects. The August event is thus expected to showcase an updated version of HyperCLOVA X with enhanced multimodal features and more user-friendly functions for vertical services such as Cue:.

“We plan to unveil models incorporating HyperCLOVA X’s multimodal capabilities, including image (vision), audio, and large language models (LLM), sequentially in CLOVA Studio within 2024,” the company said. “But details about the August event, including its schedule and contents, are still under review and yet to be finalized.”

Naver integrated five company-in-company (CIC) units, previously operating separately in search and shopping, into its headquarters in April 2024, streamlining into 12 specialized teams. The move was aimed at accelerating the delivery of optimized AI services across various business areas.

For its part, Kakao completed the integration of AI research and development and related business sectors from its AI-focused subsidiary Kakao Brain into its headquarters earlier in June 2024, while also forming a dedicated organization to oversee AI development there. The organization will be divided into two fields, each focusing on developing lightweight language models such as Kakao’s own large-scale AI language model, KoGPT, and text-based image generation model Karlo, as well as commercializing chatbot and product recommendation AI services suitable for KakaoTalk’s chat environment.

The former field will be led by Kim Byung-hak, co-CEO of Kakao Brain, as function owner (FO), with Kakao Brain personnel to be assigned to this team. The latter organization will be led by Lee Sang-ho, former chief AI officer of Kakao, as product owner (PO).

The KoGPT 2.0, which was supposed to be unveiled 2023, will be mainly used for internal testing and service improvement.

“The company is currently focused on preparing AI services that users can immediately experience, so the next model will not be released externally at this time,” a company official said.