OpenAI, Kakao announce co-development of localized AI product

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OpenAI, Kakao announce co-development of localized AI product

Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a, left, and OpenAI founder Sam Altman pose for a photo at the Kakao's press event held in central Seoul on Feb. 4. [YONHAP]

Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a, left, and OpenAI founder Sam Altman pose for a photo at the Kakao's press event held in central Seoul on Feb. 4. [YONHAP]

 
Kakao, the tech company behind Korea’s dominant mobile messenger, and U.S. AI firm OpenAI will co-develop a localized AI product tailored to Korea, with no specifications announced on the format or the amount of investment the two companies will spend.
 
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended Kakao’s press event to outline the domestic tech company’s AI business with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a held at The Plaza Hotel in central Seoul.
 
“What I hope we’ll accomplish together is that our mission is to maximize the benefits of artificial general intelligence for everybody, and to do that requires not just great research, which we’re good at, but to build great products, and we love to do that in partnership,” Altman said.
 
“So 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] that I talked about.”
 
Discussions on a strategic partnership between the two companies have been underway since last September, according to Chung.
 
It is Altman’s third official visit to Korea. OpenAI held a closed-door developer workshop on with some 100 developers at the same hotel earlier in the morning.
 
Altman’s visit to the country comes in a timely manner amid the emerging hype surrounding the debut of Chinese startup DeepSeek's low-cost AI model is just as competent as OpenAI’s with fewer, less-advanced processors.
 
In response, Altman admitted that DeepSeek’s R1 model is “impressive” for its cost-effectiveness, and said that OpenAI plans to “deliver much better models” in the future in an X post on Jan. 28.
 
Altman’s itinerary reportedly includes meetings with the chiefs of Korean conglomerates such as SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Samsung Electronics Executive Chair Lee Jae-yong and Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han.
 
Upon media questions on brewing news regarding OpenAI’s involvement in Korea such as potential investment into Korea’s AI data centers or the establishment of a Korean subsidiary, Altman did not directly comment, but emphasized that the country is “an incredibly important market and you should expect to see us more.”
 
Local media outlets reported that SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son arrived in Korea on Tuesday to meet up with key business leaders and investors to seek collaboration the Stargate project, a joint venture of SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle to build up AI capacity in the United States.
 
A meeting between Altman, Son and Samsung Electronics Executive Chair Lee Jae-yong was reported as a possibility during Son and Altman’s overlapping stay in Korea.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]
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