Kakao and OpenAI form strategic partnership in South KoreaKakao and OpenAI form strategic partnership in South Korea

The collaboration will bring ChatGPT capabilities to Kakao's core services in South Korea, as well as spur the development of localized AI products for the domestic market.

Gigi Onag, Senior Editor, APAC

February 4, 2025

1 Min Read
 South Korea flag blowing in the wind
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South Korea's Kakao and OpenAI today announced a strategic collaboration to bring ChatGPT capabilities to the popular KakaoTalk messaging platform, among other key services.

This is the second major alliance that OpenAI has clinched in Asia this week, following its joint venture partnership with Japan's SoftBank.

"Kakao is committed to securing the best AI technology and turning all imaginable AI-era services into reality," Shina Chung, CEO of Kakao, told reporters at a press conference held in Seoul.

With a 97% market share in South Korea, the KakaoTalk messaging app has expanded its services to include e-commerce, payment and gaming.

As part of the collaboration between the two companies, advanced models from OpenAI will be incorporated into Kanana, an innovative new service from Kakao, which uses an AI agent to deliver personalized, contextual answers.

In addition, Kakao will deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across its organization to improve workflows.

Developing localized AI products

Kakao and OpenAI also announced plans to collaborate on the development of localized AI products for the South Korean market.

“Beyond simply leveraging the latest AI advancements, this partnership underscores our effort to codevelop AI products tailored for Kakao’s 50 million users,” Chung said, as quoted by The Korean Herald.

Related:SoftBank and OpenAI join forces to advance AI for business in Japan

According to Chung, the two companies have been in talks since September of last year to form a strategic partnership in a variety of areas.

"I hope we figure out how to build many future products that make people buy better, that they depend on, and we can figure out a way to work on some of that scientific advancement [in medical science and education]," said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, as quoted by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

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About the Author

Gigi Onag

Senior Editor, APAC, Light Reading

Gigi Onag is Senior Editor, APAC, Light Reading. She has been a technology journalist for more than 15 years, covering various aspects of enterprise IT across Asia-Pacific.

She started with regional IT publications under CMP Asia (now Informa), including Asia Computer Weekly, Intelligent Enterprise Asia and Network Computing Asia and Teledotcom Asia. This was followed by stints with Computerworld Hong Kong and sister publications FutureIoT and FutureCIO. She had contributed articles to South China Morning Post, TechTarget and PC Market among others.

She interspersed her career as a technology editor with a brief sojourn into public relations before returning to journalism, joining the editorial team of Mix Magazine, a MICE publication and its sister publication Business Traveller Asia Pacific.

Gigi is based in Hong Kong and is keen to delve deeper into the region’s wide wild world of telecoms.

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