Kakao said on the 7th that it will hold the If Kakao (if(kakao)26) conference for two days from Oct. 13 to 14 at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
If Kakao is the flagship conference where Kakao Group unveils its technology vision and shares accumulated technical achievements with the developer community. Marking its eighth edition, the conference will present a vision under the slogan "Connections meet intelligence," adding AI technology to Kakao's accumulated experience in consolidation to expand each user's capabilities and potential. At the same time, it will share Kakao's reflections and execution direction on the responsibilities technology must have in the AI era.
On the first day, CEO Chung Shin-a will deliver a keynote titled "Connections for all, intelligence for one," introducing Kakao's AI direction and services that embody those values. Then Kim Dae-nyeon, head of design, will share principles for designing AI service experiences that understand context and design values, and Noh Byung-seok, performance lead for the unified foundation model, will present the current status and future plans of the Kanana model, which underpins agentic AI. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Song Jae-ha will address technical requirements for safe and responsible AI.
After the keynote, about 50 technical sessions featuring developers from Kakao and its affiliates as speakers will continue over the two days. The plan is to share real-world experiences and insights from service and development sites on topics such as AI direction, mutual growth, models, and agents.
On the second day, the 14th, the event will continue with deeper technical discussions under the theme "The moment technology becomes trust." Starting with a welcome session by CTO Song Jae-ha, presentations will cover topics such as governance, stability and infrastructure, and the AI-Driven Development Life Cycle (AI-DLC), which innovates the entire development process around AI.
This year's event also prepared programs that allow participants to experience If Kakao in various ways. In the Fireside Chat, a space for sharing views in a free atmosphere, speakers from Kakao and the community and external panelists will discuss responsible development and technology operations in the AI era, including changes brought by AI in the development process and the standards needed for sustained AI use. After the presentations, after-sessions will be held to enable deeper Q&A between presenters and participants, and a keyword networking program will also run to facilitate free exchange based on each person's role and area of interest.