[Herald Interview] Chat with your favorite webtoon character

Initially Korean-centered service meets explosive response from overseas fans

(From left) Managers at Naver Webtoon's AI planning team Kim Seong-eun, Kim Sung-hyun and Cha Yeon-ju pose for a photo at the Naver Webtoon headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 8. (Naver Webtoon)

The line between fiction and reality is becoming increasingly blurred. The AI planning team at Naver Webtoon has rolled out an official AI chatbot service, which lets users chat with fictional characters.

Character Chat is a chatbot service available on the Naver Webtoon app which leverages Naver's AI language model, HyperClova X, to facilitate conversations with characters from webtoons.

Users can interact with four popular webtoon characters of their choice, including Ki Sang-ho from "Garbage Time," Go Eun-hyeok from "Operation: True Love," Cho Seok from "The Sound of Your Heart" and Hungry Cell from "Yumi's Cells."

Since its launch in June, the service has attracted over 1 million users and saw 20 million messages exchanged in the first month, with each user averaging 2.5 days of usage per week.

According to the managers behind the service, Character Chat was developed to address the fans' desire to not only read webtoons but also "play" with them.

"Fans are interested in more than just seeing K-pop idols perform on stage; they also want to glimpse their personal lives, such as by exchanging messages with them through platforms like Bubble," said Kim Sung-hyun, an AI planning team manager at Naver Webtoon, during an interview held with The Korea Herald at the Naver Webtoon headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 8.

"We aimed to foster a similar sense of connection and let fans create deeper relationships with webtoon characters," said Kim.

According to the managers, the service was largely inspired by Character AI, a global chatbot platform where users can create or choose characters to interact with via chat or voice calls.

However, the managers noted that Character Chat differs from Character AI, as it is one of the only official services in the world that offers AI interactions with fictional characters approved by their creators and IP providers.

"To develop Character Chat, the IP provider underwent a thorough process to flesh out the character, which involves refining elements that might cause discomfort or damage the character's identity," said Kim.

"I believe there is a significant difference between interacting with a character that has been carefully developed by the official team and engaging with an AI chatbot created by fans," he added.

Screenshot of Character Chat (The Korea Herald/Lee Yoon-seo)

The service was originally created for Korean users, but the team managers said they were surprised to find it has also garnered an explosive response from international webtoon readers.

"A Naver ID is required for accessing Character Chat. Given that getting a Naver ID is a challenging process for international users, we expected the service to be used mainly by Korean audiences," said Cha Yeon-ju, the lead manager of Naver Webtoon's AI planning team.

"However, we’ve noticed on X that many English-speaking fans were using the service," she said.

"We also received numerous requests from international fans to have their favorite characters included in the chatbot service, when we launched a poll on X to have fans vote for the next character to be added to the service," she said.

Considering such responses, Cha said Naver Webtoon is looking into expanding the service overseas.

"International users have their own favorite characters that are popular in their regions, such as 'Lore Olympus.' Instead of simply translating the current service, we are aiming to include content that caters to what the international users want," said Cha.

Webtoon Caricature (Naver Webtoon)

Going forward, she said Naver Webtoon plans to develop more AI-driven technologies that will enable fans to engage with IP in fun ways.

Naver Webtoon launched Webtoon Caricature in July, an AI service which creates portraits in the style of popular webtoon artist Cho Seok after users submit a selfie.

"It's not just about using AI technology simply because it's available. If we can now offer something fans have wanted but couldn’t previously due to technical limitations, we are proud to finally make that possible," said Kim.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)