Naver to become 'integrated AI agent' as CEO reveals company's long-term plan at conference

"We will evolve into ‘Agent N,’ an AI that integrates all of our services and data to actively assist individuals in their daily lives,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said Thursday during her keynote speech.

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon speaks during the company’s DAN 25 conference at the Coex Grand Ballroom in southern Seoul on Nov. 6. [NAVER]

Naver unveiled its vision of becoming an “integrated AI agent” company as part of its long-term plan in the artificial intelligence era.

“We will evolve into ‘Agent N,’ an AI that integrates all of our services and data to actively assist individuals in their daily lives,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said Thursday during her keynote speech at the Team Naver conference DAN 25, held at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

Agent N, currently under development, is designed to connect all of Naver’s major services — from search and shopping to reservations — into a single, seamless AI-driven platform.

At last year’s DAN 24 event, Naver introduced its “On-Service AI” strategy, which aimed to enhance each of its services with AI capabilities. This year, the company expanded that strategy into an “agent model” that unifies them under one ecosystem.

The concept of Agent N will take shape next summer with the launch of a new feature called “AI Tab.” For instance, if a user searches “beginner running course,” the AI will gather and analyze information from Naver’s Place, Cafe and Blog services to suggest running routes and reviews.

Naver’s lineup of robots developed since 2017 is on display at the Naver Labs booth during the DAN 25 conference. [EO HWAN-HEE]

It can then recommend influencers specializing in running, as well as personalized products, and even assist in purchasing them through Naver’s “Shopping Agent,” which is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of next year.

Naver’s business structure is shifting toward e-commerce and payment services, which are increasingly driving revenue growth. In its third-quarter results released Wednesday, Naver reported record-high quarterly revenue exceeding 3 trillion won ($2.07 billion). Commerce and fintech divisions grew by 35.9 percent and 12.5 percent on year, respectively.

“Agent N is not a single function or service,” said Naver COO Kim Beom-jun during a press briefing Thursday. “If Naver’s identity has so far been about helping users find what they want, we now aim to become a service that understands users’ needs and helps them act on them in daily life.”

The picture shows the Naver headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi on Nov. 5. [YONHAP]

Expanding into ‘physical AI’

Naver also shared plans to strengthen its AI infrastructure and develop what it calls a “physical AI” ecosystem.

“The foundation of Naver’s AI strategy lies in its infrastructure, including data centers and cloud services,” Choi said. “We will continue expanding computing investments in our data centers while advancing physical AI, which moves beyond code into the real world.”

Last month, Naver signed a deal with Nvidia to secure 60,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and announced a partnership to jointly develop a “physical AI platform.”

Within this month, Naver plans to deploy “Mininoid,” a humanoid robot co-developed with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, at its headquarters as a testing site for new physical AI technologies.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY EO HWAN-HEE [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]