2025. 2. 4. 16:49ㆍKorean Economy
Kakao has formed a strategic partnership with OpenAI and will apply OpenAI's technology to various AI services, including 'Kanana,' which is scheduled to launch in the first half of this year.
On February 4th, Kakao held a joint press conference at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul's Jung-gu district with OpenAI, a leading company in the AI field, and shared this news. Kakao is the first domestic company to form a strategic partnership with OpenAI.
At the press conference, Kakao CEO Jeong Shin-ah explained Kakao's AI vision, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended in person to discuss the direction of collaboration between the two companies.
Although the specifics of this collaboration are not yet finalized, the focus is on enhancing AI services to make them more accessible to a broader range of users. The partnership will emphasize technological cooperation for service improvement and joint product development.
Jeong Shin-ah, CEO of Kakao, said during the keynote presentation, "Based on the capabilities Kakao has built over a long period of serving the public, we are focused on offering a 'personalized AI that best understands users.' By collaborating with OpenAI, which has global technological competitiveness, we will lead the popularization of AI services and provide innovative customer experiences."
Kakao and OpenAI have been discussing collaboration in various areas, including technology, service, and business, with the shared goal of 'popularizing AI services' since September of last year.
As a result, they have agreed to integrate OpenAI’s latest AI technology API into Kakao’s major services, such as KakaoTalk and Kanana. They also decided to introduce ChatGPT Enterprise to accelerate Kakao's transformation into an 'AI-native company.'
Through this collaboration, Kakao will further strengthen its AI model orchestration strategy, which was first unveiled at the developer conference if(kakaoAI) last October. This strategy aims to provide users with the best service by using not only Kakao's own AI models but also excellent external APIs when necessary.
Under this strategy, Kakao plans to utilize both its own language model and OpenAI's models for the development of Kanana, a service that will help users build and strengthen relationships by providing context-aware responses in both one-on-one and group conversations. The goal is to use OpenAI’s technology to refine this service and offer users the highest level of AI experience.
In addition to technical cooperation, both companies are working on joint product development. The collaboration between Kakao, which understands Korean users, and OpenAI, with its global AI technological expertise, is expected to create new synergies in the domestic market and accelerate the popularization of AI services.
During the press conference, the two CEOs held a conversation about the strategic partnership and discussed various topics related to their vision and future direction.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed, "Kakao has a deep understanding of how technology enriches everyday life and has continuously provided innovative experiences to its users. We are excited to collaborate with Kakao to bring advanced AI to millions of Kakao users and integrate this technology into Kakao's services to innovate how users communicate and connect."
Kakao CEO Jeong Shin-ah also stated, "We have high expectations for our strategic collaboration with OpenAI, a global leader in AI technology. This partnership will not only refine our orchestration strategy but also be a turning point in Kakao’s efforts to bring the necessary future closer."