OpenAI and Kakao are going to build a local AI product that is tailored to the demographic of Korea.
Kakao Corp. and OpenAI have decided to form an agreement to further integrate ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence services into Korea’s largest social media platform, which is another big customer win for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI head Shina Chung, the CEO of Kakao, announced in Seoul that KakaoTalk, an instant messenger and online services platform operated by Kakao Corporation, and US AI firm OpenAI are forming a strategic partnership that will involve joint product development and increased use of OpenAI technology in services like KakaoTalks.
They are going to build a local AI product that is tailored to the demographic of Korea. They did not mention the investment made by both the companies and the format in which they are going to develop the product.
Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended a press conference at the Plaza Hotel in central Seoul to talk about the domestic tech company AI business.
Altman announced that his goal with the company is to maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence for all people and conduct excellent research to create great products, which they aim to do through this collaboration.
He added that he hoped to develop many products that improve people’s buying experience and that people rely on and find a way to make scientific advancements in the medical science and education field.
Altman mentioned that he finds South Korea a significant market to develop the product since it has a wide range of use cases ranging from investigating treatments for childhood cancer to implementing artificial intelligence in the education field, which is one the things he mentions that he finds fascinating.
Chung mentions that they have been having talks about having a strategic partnership between the two companies since last September.
Altman has been to Korea three times for official business. OpenAI hosted a private session at the Plaza Hotel in central Seoul for about 100 developers.
Altman visited Korea promptly amid the emerging hype surrounding the launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese startup whose low-cost AI model is equally capable as open AI, even with fewer and less advanced processors.
Altman wrote in an X post on January 28 that OpenAI intends to develop better models in the future and also was impressed with the DeepSeek R1 model for its cost-effectiveness, which is as capable as OpenAI.
Altman was in Tokyo the day before the announcement of an agreement with SoftBank Corp for selling and proliferating AI tools and services in Japan. He is extending the Tour of Asia into India as the cofounder and CEO meets partners, engineers, and investors to increase OpenAI’s lead.
The innovative AI business is working with regional tech leaders like Kakao and SoftBank to accelerate its effort to monetize its technology. Along with collaboration with regional tech leaders, they are also doing a variety of channels like the mobile ChatGPT app.
Kakao, one of Korea’s two biggest internet companies, has been facing a few challenging months. A year ago, after its founder was accused of price-rigging, Chung took over the company to help stabilize it.
Before taking over the role of CEO, she was a member of Kakao Ventures, which has made many investments in industries like gaming, digital health care, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
Altman on his third visit to South Korea plans to meet executives from SK Hynix Inc., SK Telecom Co., and Krafton Inc. to discuss business partnerships, as well as SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. He also anticipates to meet with senior executives from Samsung Electronics Co.
