Kakao

Kakao is the operator of KakaoTalk, it is attracting attention in the domestic AI market through its partnership with OpenAI and its own AI service.

Kakao is Korea's leading Internet company that operates the national messenger service KakaoTalk. Focusing on messengers, we have expanded its business into commerce, finance (Kakao Bank, Kakao Pay), mobility, and content.

In the AI field, we received a lot of attention by announcing a strategic partnership with OpenAI. Rather than competing head-on with its own mega-model, it is evaluated that it has chosen a pragmatic route by joining hands with the best global model and combining AI services with Korea's largest platform, KakaoTalk. We are also developing our own AI services, such as the conversational AI service Canana.

There are expectations that AI will have a large impact if it naturally infiltrates the messengers used by all citizens, but there are also concerns that external dependence may increase without in-house technology.

✅ Strengths

• It has a channel to distribute AI on a national platform called KakaoTalk
• It can quickly utilize top-level models through partnership with OpenAI
• It has a variety of in-house services that incorporate AI in commerce, finance, etc.

⚠️ Limits

• There are concerns about dependence on external technology due to weak competitiveness of the company's own large-scale model
• There has been a series of adverse events at the group level, such as management judicial risk
• The AI monetization model is not yet clear