[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] The stock price of Selvas AI, a specialized artificial intelligence company, is on the rise. The news that OpenAI, the world's largest AI research institute that developed the conversational AI chatbot ‘ChatGPT’, has a corporate value of $29 billion (approximately 37 trillion KRW) appears to have influenced the stock price. This is interpreted as the beginning of a full-scale revaluation of AI technology companies.
At 9:50 a.m. on the 9th, Selvas AI was trading at 7,740 KRW, up 10.57% from the previous trading day.
According to major foreign media, venture capital firms Strive Capital and Founders Fund proposed to purchase shares from existing OpenAI shareholders through a public tender offer, suggesting a stock sale to OpenAI worth at least $300 million. OpenAI’s corporate value, which was $14 billion at the time of the public tender offer in 2021, has doubled in two years. Microsoft (MS) is also reportedly negotiating to increase its stake in OpenAI.
Selvas AI, established in 1999 and listed on the domestic KOSDAQ market in 2009, is Korea’s first publicly traded AI company. Its main business area is the HCI (Human Computer Interaction) sector, which focuses on technology that enables easy and convenient interaction between computers and humans. HCI technology is regarded as one of the core fields of artificial intelligence. The company possesses top-level domestic technology in voice recognition, speech synthesis, and natural language processing. It has succeeded in developing standardized products. As of the third quarter of last year, it recorded operating revenue of 37.2 billion KRW and operating profit of 4.5 billion KRW cumulatively.
On this day, Selvas AI announced that it is recruiting demand companies for the ‘2023 AI Voucher Support Project’ hosted by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA).
Domestic small and medium-sized ventures, mid-sized companies, and medical institutions under the Medical Service Act that require AI solution adoption can purchase supplier solutions worth up to 300 million KRW through the AI Voucher Support Project to use for digital transformation. The application deadline is until 3 p.m. on the 30th.
Since the implementation of the support project, Selvas AI has participated as an AI voucher supplier company. It has experience successfully completing projects with demand companies every year. Based on its experience in AI voucher projects and commercialization and productization in various fields, it plans to supply core AI solutions that can effectively transform the business models of companies needing AI solution adoption.
The artificial intelligence technologies that Selvas AI plans to supply through the AI Voucher Support Project include voice recognition (Selvy STT), speech synthesis (Selvy TTS), handwriting recognition (Selvy PEN), optical character recognition (Selvy OCR), healthcare solutions (Selvy Checkup, OnFit), and edu-tech solutions.
Voice recognition is a technology that converts sound information into text. Based on the best voice recognition performance in Korea, it is applied in various fields such as ▲smart device control including kiosks and AI speakers ▲public institution AI report writing (Selvy Note) as well as foreign language learning ▲AI medical voice chart creation for hospitals (Selvy MediVoice). Speech synthesis is a technology that analyzes text information and converts it into AI voices. It can be applied in various fields such as AI voices for male, female, elderly, and children, AI counselors, audiobook narration, and digital humans.
Handwriting recognition is a technology that converts handwritten text into digital text and has been applied in sectors such as finance for full sales, automotive, mobile, and home appliances. It can recognize 50 languages including Korean and English, as well as shapes, formulas, chemical formulas, gestures, and stroke order. Optical character recognition is a solution that extracts, recognizes, and converts text from various documents such as ID cards, credit cards, business registration certificates, and prescriptions. It provides high-level customization to recognize various forms according to customer requests.
Smart healthcare is a disease prediction solution that predicts and analyzes the risk of onset within four years for 10 major diseases including six major cancers based on individual health checkup results. It is serviced through insurance companies and MyData operators. The U-Wellness service analyzes individual physical fitness measurement results and lifestyle patterns from multiple angles to establish optimal health management goals and prescribe exercise. The edu-tech solution supports the digital transformation of traditional education businesses such as customized learning platforms based on business experience with various education companies.
Kim Kyung-chae, manager in charge of Selvas AI’s AI voucher business, said, "The majority of companies are actively pursuing business model changes through AI solution adoption," but added, "They are struggling due to high adoption costs." He continued, "The AI voucher is the best opportunity to solve companies’ difficulties. With 25 years of accumulated top-level domestic HCI technology in voice recognition, speech synthesis, and text recognition, as well as commercialization and productization experience optimized for healthcare and edu-tech, we will create successful digital transformation cases for demand companies."
The AI Voucher Support Project is a program conducted by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) under the Ministry of Science and ICT since 2020 to expand AI infrastructure.
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