"We are not creating a new app. The familiar KakaoTalk will serve as the entry point for new services."
Kim Se-woong, Kakao Executive Vice President, held an interview on 'Everyone's AI' jointly with LG Uplus at Finance Building in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 15th. He stated, "Since KakaoTalk is a platform for all Koreans, there was internal consensus that we must lead the development of Everyone's AI." He added, "An agentic AI platform through KakaoTalk is also the direction Kakao aims to pursue."
Kakao aims to increase monthly active users (MAU) of 'Everyone's AI' to 5 million by the end of this year, 10 million in 2027, and 30 million in 2030. According to Mobile Index, KakaoTalk's MAU in August was 48.475513 million.
Executive Vice President Kim said, "When KakaoPay first launched its Kakao service, we set targets by referencing metrics such as MAU." He further explained, "By leveraging Kakao's assets like Notification Talk, Channel Talk, and banners, along with LG Uplus' apps, SMS, and voice services, we will provide comprehensive public, medical, and financial services feasible in Korea."
He also noted that the following experiences would support the operation of 'Everyone's AI': integrating the government's 'AI National Assistant' service into KakaoTalk; participating as a shareholder in the Haenam Solarisido National AI Computing Center; and being selected as a developer for the government's AI Agent Marketplace project.
Kakao plans to implement 'Everyone's AI' as an AI agent platform using 'Play MCP', which connects AI with external tools. Developers will upload AI agents or services, which will then be reviewed by Kakao before being offered to 'Everyone's AI' users. The service will be naturally integrated into the existing user experience (UX) without disrupting current KakaoTalk usage, and a separate web service will also be launched. LG Uplus' SMS and voice services will also be utilized as consumer touchpoints.
This year, the focus will be on public services. For example, when a university student verifies their identity, AI will analyze factors such as school, grade level, and parental income bracket to guide them on available scholarships and whether they can receive multiple awards simultaneously, managing everything from application to actual deposit. However, sharing sensitive personal information between companies requires regulatory relaxation by the government, including access to public systems and permission for personal data usage.
Go Jin-tae, LGYoo Peul-reo-seu (SVP), stated, "It is necessary to clarify the scope of user responsibility and standards for protecting sensitive information regarding the use of sensitive data in finance, healthcare, and welfare sectors." He added, "If the government quickly discusses regulatory sandboxes and similar measures, it can lead to tangible results for citizens."
The roles of both companies are also divided. Kakao will manage the KakaoTalk platform, while LG Uplus will handle the integrated operation of AI models and GPUs (graphics processing units). The capabilities of LG AI Research's 'ExaOne' and LG CNS's system integration expertise will also be utilized. Two models from Kakao's Kanana series and two from the ExaOne series will be employed.
Executive Director Go said, "Since quality, safety, speed, and cost are critical in token generation, we will secure capabilities to generate tokens efficiently while the government supports GPU resources." Executive Vice President Kim added, "We aim to maximize the utilization rate of government AI computing resources by adopting a method where inference occurs during the day and learning takes place at night."
Both companies plan to unveil the beta version of 'Everyone's AI' at Kakao's developer conference, 'iF Kakao', in mid-October.
Meanwhile, even with the launch of 'Everyone's AI', Kakao will retain the existing 'ChatGPT' feature within KakaoTalk. Executive Vice President Kim elaborated, "We are making various attempts to determine which services best serve users."
in TECH
