Upstage said on the 9th that it acquired the generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform corporations Timely. The two sides held a signing ceremony at Upstage's Gangnam office with the heads of each side and key executives in attendance.
Timely operates the AI platform "TimelyAI (formerly TimelyGPT)," which lets anyone build AI agents needed for work without separate coding. Based on various large language models (LLMs), it provides integrated AI functions needed for work, including prompts, image and video generation, and document conversion. These functions are currently used by the Seoul pay-as-you-throw AI service "SeoulAIChat," as well as by local governments nationwide and public and educational institutions.
Through this acquisition, Upstage will expand its AI agent business by putting TimelyAI equipped with its in-house LLM "Solar" at the forefront. The company said, "With Timely's deployment know-how, proven in public and educational settings, combined with Upstage's technological strength, not only developers but anyone will be able to implement customized workflow automation with AI."
Upstage previously acquired AXZ, the operator of the portal "Daum," expanding channels to deploy its own AI models. By adding Timely to this, the company plans to accelerate its strategy to spread an AI ecosystem that connects from existing B2B (business-to-business) industry sectors to public, education, and general users.
Kim Dae-hwan, head of Timely, said, "With the combination of Upstage and Timely, the breadth and depth of real-world use in the domestic AI industry will leap to a new level," adding, "We will quickly lead the era of easy-to-use AI agents by enabling anyone to find every AI they need in one place."
Kim Sung-hoon, head of Upstage, said, "Competition in the AI industry will now be decided not just by performance but by how fast and deeply models are deployed to real sites to get work done," adding, "Through this combination, we will raise the tangible sense of AI efficacy for a wide range of general users, including corporations and institutions, and make it an opportunity to elevate the AI competitiveness of the entire nation by one step."