Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Domestic tech firms struggle to develop generative AI fluent in Korean
Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yoo-won introduces the company's upgraded hyperscale artificial intelligence service called HyperCLOVA X, during DEVIEW 2023 conference at COEX in Seoul in this Feb. 27 file photo. Courtesy of Naver
By Park Jae-hyuk
By Park Jae-hyuk
Korean IT firms, mobile carriers, gaming companies and others are competing fiercely to come up with better generative artificial intelligence (AI) services in line with the global competition sparked by OpenAI's development of ChatGPT, according to industry officials, Thursday.
Admitting their technology is still inferior to those of U.S. tech giants like Microsoft and Google, Korean companies are focusing more on attracting domestic users by providing AI services fluent in Korean.
Naver plans to launch SearchGPT by the end of this year by integrating its search engine with a hyperscale AI service called HyperCLOVA, which specializes in Korean. The new service is intended to support optimized searches for each user, according to the tech firm. In July, the company will unveil an upgraded hyperscale AI service called HyperCLOVA X.
“To create a competitive domestic hyperscale AI ecosystem, we will launch the next generation of hyperscale AI HyperCLOVA X this summer,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon told investors last month. “HyperCLOVA X is the world's third-largest Korean language learning model and the first in Korea.”
Kakao will unveil KoGPT 2.0 during the second half of this year. The upgraded generative AI service will be able to make sentences by understanding Korean texts, according to the company. Also, Kakao will soon unveil an upgraded Karlo, which can create new images based on texts and original images input by users.
“Using AI technology, we will lead people to a better life and continue to pursue our vision, which is to keep asking unthinkable questions,” Kakao Brain CEO Kim Il-doo said in March.
SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang introduces the company's plan for artificial intelligence business, during a press conference in Barcelona in this Feb. 26 file photo. Courtesy of SK Telecom
In May last year, SK Telecom showcased A. based on GPT-3, which learned images and Korean texts. The company also decided recently to establish a new department in charge of AI business. KT, another telecommunication firm, is set to come up with an AI service named Mi:dm, which specializes in Korean data.
LG, which unveiled its hyperscale AI service EXAONE in December 2021, is trying to upgrade its functions for experts. In particular, LG AI Research is developing a new type of large language model to prevent hallucination in GPT models.
In the gaming industry, NCSOFT seeks to be the first Korean gaming firm that has developed its own hyperscale AI language model. During the second half of this year, the new model will be used for the gaming firm's digital human, which can interact with users.