Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Kakao to take part in public IT infrastructure biz
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
Kakao Enterprise, the IT systems provider of Kakao, said Monday it will take part in the public sector IT infrastructure business.
The affiliate said its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot passed the government's screening process, enabling it to be used for Q&A services at public institutions.
The chatbot will be available for state-run organizations via a system set up last month by the government. The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Public Procurement Service established the system, through which public institutions can find the digital-based services they need and sign contracts immediately with the respective companies offering them.
According to the company, its chatbot has adopted advanced machine learning technology, with which it has superior capabilities in sentence recognition compared to existing chatbots. This makes it possible to provide more accurate answers to questions that are asked, Kakao Enterprise said.
Public institutions are currently using the KakaoTalk channel to provide answers to various user enquiries. The adoption of Kakao Enterprise's chatbot will enable the addressing of a wider range of questions and requests. The “i Connect Talk” chatbot will enable customer inquiries, complaints and various payments including taxes.
For example, customers could request on KakaoTalk for their delivery item's location to be identified. They could also ask the chatbot how to carry out year-end tax settlements.
"It is meaningful in that Kakao's 'i Connect Talk' chatbot is the first convergence service to pass screening for the government's digital services system for public institutions," Kakao Enterprise CEO Baek Sang-yeop was quoted as saying in a statement. "We will seek to offer our chatbot to more public institutions so that they are able to easily utilize digital services and communicate with the public."
Kakao Enterprise is offering the same service to firms in the private sector as well. In the first quarter of this year, it partnered with Samsung C&T's resort division, to incorporate KakaoTalk's chatbot into the process of issuing tickets and ordering food and drinks at the amusement park Everland. Kakao Enterprise also joined hands with Kyobo Life Insurance in utilizing its chatbot to answer mobile-based customer inquiries around the clock. In addition, the company signed agreements with SK E&S and city gas supplier Samchully, to use its chatbot for safety checks and other services.
Kakao Enterprise is a spinoff of Kakao's AI lab. It launched in December 2019, to expand existing businesses in the field and find new growth engines. The firm is focusing on providing IT solutions to other companies. It plans to offer know-how on utilizing and analyzing data to its partnering firms and strengthen R&D investments.