Seoul City KakaoTalk Chatbot 'Seoultok' Surpasses 300,000 Subscribers... Also Launches Cultural Events, Fine Dust, and Weather Services

Within the Year, Citizen Proposals and Suggestions to Be Accepted, General Civil Complaint Reception Service Also Introduced

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The KakaoTalk chatbot ‘Seoultalk,’ an AI counselor that provides 24-hour responses to various inquiries related to Seoul city administration and allows easy filing and reporting of civil complaints, has surpassed 300,000 subscribers.

According to Seoul city on the 26th, ‘Seoultalk’ has been gaining attention as a non-face-to-face communication channel during the COVID-19 pandemic, showing a rapid increase in users. Since its launch on February 1, 2020, it exceeded 86,000 users by the end of that year, and last year the number of subscribers nearly tripled. It is analyzed that the surge in 120 consultation calls due to COVID-19, combined with the chatbot’s ability to quickly answer simple and repetitive inquiries, influenced this growth.

Among the total 120 consultation cases, one out of three (28.5%) was handled through ‘Seoultalk.’ As a result of focusing on delivering frequently changing COVID-19 policy information, COVID-related consultations accounted for 40% of ‘Seoultalk’ inquiries. Additionally, the convenience of reporting on-site civil complaints such as illegal parking, noise complaints, and quarantine requests via KakaoTalk has spread by word of mouth, leading to a 39% increase in the average daily number of on-site civil complaint submissions this year compared to the previous year (369 cases → 512 cases).

With the recovery of daily life from COVID-19 and the resumption of various cultural events and outdoor activities that had been suspended, Seoul city will provide a customized set of three essential services for outings starting on the 26th: cultural event search, fine dust information, and weather services. Unlike the existing chatbot service that shows pre-registered answers, the newly launched three services display response information based on real-time data that changes frequently, allowing users to receive more precise answers.

Furthermore, not only on-site civil complaints but also general civil complaints such as suggestions, proposals, and grievances will be available for application and submission through ‘Seoultalk’ within this year. Similar to on-site complaints, users can directly call their mobile phone number within KakaoTalk to submit and view processing results. Park Jong-su, Seoul city’s Smart City Policy Officer, said, “Seoultalk allows citizens to resolve inquiries and civil complaints related to Seoul city administration on KakaoTalk, which many citizens use, without the need to install a separate app or visit a website one by one. We will continue to expand the scope of services for citizens and enhance personalized services by combining various artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.”