Jung said that Kakao is looking to find clues for a rebound in performance in artificial intelligence (AI) based on collaboration with OpenAI. Due to the deteriorating economy in the first quarter and a gap in intellectual property (IP), the performance of its key institutional sectors, commerce and content, is expected to be sluggish.
◇ "AI agent developed in collaboration with OpenAI will be unveiled within the year… own AI services will also be launched"
During a conference call regarding last year's fourth-quarter results on the 13th, Jung noted, "The collaboration with OpenAI will not be limited to a simple model partnership. Both companies will develop joint services to be unveiled within the year." He added, "Since we are in the initial stage of collaboration, it is difficult to disclose specific details, but the goal is to develop an AI agent that encompasses the entire Kakao ecosystem."
Jung also announced the launch of its own services based on AI. He stated, "We plan to launch a discovery area in KakaoTalk this year," adding, "The discovery area will provide content that users can consume in the form of feeds, including images, videos, and short-form content." Jung further said, "We plan to officially launch 'AI Mate' in the first half of this year," emphasizing that "AI Mate will interact with users, analyze various requests, and recommend services, thus serving as an entry point to enhance existing services." He particularly explained that the AI Mate service will be applied to the "gift giving" feature to alleviate users' purchasing concerns and maximize satisfaction.
Jung added, "We are preparing a service that can strengthen the context of generative search, which has been limited in the Kakao ecosystem," noting that "we will be able to provide optimal answers by applying AI to the existing hashtag (#) search and the new service."
Jung explained that Kakao has also entered the final stages of development for the AI service 'Kanana,' which is expected to be launched in the first half of this year. He mentioned, "We have completed internal testing and are currently improving the features," stating, "Unlike existing services implemented with one-on-one interaction, Kanana can respond in a 4-to-1 format in group chat rooms, which I believe gives it competitive advantages."
◇ "Commerce and content performance expected to be sluggish in the first quarter"
Jung remarked, "Last year, the transaction volume in the commerce institutional sector grew only in the 1% range due to the deteriorating economy and a shrink in consumer sentiment caused by major social issues," and added, "While consumers actively purchase essential goods, spending on high-priced items has diminished." He also projected, "Given the limitations in domestic growth, it will be difficult for advertisers to actively conduct marketing advertising within the platform in the first quarter of this year."
Jung continued, "In the commerce institutional sector, we will provide optimized services while pursuing external growth," and explained that "we aim to achieve a transaction volume growth rate similar to last year."
Shin Jong-hwan, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Kakao, explained, "The content institutional sector is expected to face intensified sluggishness due to the deteriorating effects of the IP gap in the first half," stating, "We will focus on core revenue sources rather than indiscriminate business expansion." The revenue of Kakao's content institutional sector in the fourth quarter of last year was 910.1 billion won, down 13% from the same period the previous year.
◇ "Diverse open-source platforms such as DeepSeek emerging is positive"
Jung described the emergence of various open-source platforms, including DeepSeek, as a positive phenomenon. He stated, "The enhancement in the performance of open-source platforms, including DeepSeek, is good news," adding, "Kakao has had the 'Kanana Flex' service, which applies open-source, including Meta's 'Lama,' since last year."
Jung continued, "However, the increase of open-source platforms does not directly lead to the successful popularization of Kakao's AI services," emphasizing that "especially DeepSeek has many issues to resolve in terms of safety when it comes to service implementation, making it difficult to be widely used." He noted, "Safety is essential for the entire population to utilize AI services," and stated, "Kakao has focused on AI safety since its early development stages and aims to continue various efforts to implement AI that can be used in everyday life."