"Answering All the World's Questions"... AI 'Asukup Suggest' Launched with Search and Recommendations Added

Reflecting the Latest Information in ChatGPT... Personalized Recommendations Included
Integration with Reservations, Shopping, Education Beyond Search
"Answering All Questions in the World with AI Chatbot"

AI startup Upstage has launched 'AskUp Seargest,' a chatbot AI that combines search and recommendation technologies. It integrates the latest information into ChatGPT and adds personalized recommendation capabilities. The company's vision is to enable everyone to conveniently use personalized high-performance AI.

On the 16th, Upstage held its first press briefing since its founding at Ferrum Hall in Ferrum Tower, Jung-gu, Seoul. Upstage was established in 2020 by Professor Kim Seong-hoon of the Computer Science Department at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who previously led AI development at Naver. The company has assembled an Avengers-level AI team, including Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Lee Hwal-seok, who led Naver Clova's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, and Chief Science Officer (CSO) Park Eun-jung, who developed Naver's translation service Papago. Recently, they introduced 'AskUp,' a ChatGPT available on the messenger KakaoTalk, which has secured 1 million users.

At the briefing, AskUp Seargest was unveiled for the first time. It is a service designed to complement the limitations of AI chatbots that have emerged after ChatGPT. ChatGPT has the drawback of a 'hallucination phenomenon,' where it sometimes provides false information as if it were true because it was trained only on data prior to 2021. Additionally, it offers only general information, which reduces its effectiveness when personalized answers are needed.

Kim Seong-hoon, CEO of Upstage [Photo by Upstage]

AskUp Seargest reflects the latest data from client companies linked with Upstage. For example, AskUp Seargest integrated with Kyobo Bookstore can explore new book information from the bookstore’s sales data and recommend books. For personalized recommendations, Kyobo Bookstore user IDs are anonymized before being provided.

Kim Seong-hoon, CEO of Upstage, explained, "While testing AskUp, we discovered that users enjoy chat services," adding, "We judged that various services beyond search could be based on chat." He emphasized that as an ecosystem integrating various services through ChatGPT plugins develops, personalized recommendations will become a differentiated weapon.

Upstage plans to integrate AskUp Seargest with shopping, travel, movies, marketing, education, and more. CEO Kim stated, "More than 100 companies, including Kyobo Bookstore and Fast Campus, are already waiting for the launch of AskUp Seargest."

Upstage also provides B2B services through its 'Document AI Pack.' This technology extracts text from documents or images using OCR and processes it. For example, it automates insurance claims by handling documents required for claims, such as medical receipts, with the Document AI Pack. Major corporations like Samsung Life Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance, and POSCO are Upstage clients.

Upstage aims to make this year the first year of solution sales and achieve breakeven point (BEP). The company recorded 6 billion KRW in sales last year and has already reached 5 billion KRW in the first half of this year.

They have also started overseas expansion. Recently, Upstage introduced AskUp through the global messenger LINE in Japan and Southeast Asia. The AI Pack is also planned to be launched in global markets such as Japan.

Meanwhile, Upstage introduced 'AskUp Lemon Sparkle Highball,' a beverage developed by AI. The AI was responsible for recipe development and product design. Factors such as alcohol content, sweetness, price, launch timing, and sales locations were also determined through conversations with AskUp. This is an attempt to provide the general public with a direct experience of AI. The product will be sold at GS25 convenience stores starting from the 17th.

CEO Kim emphasized, "We will leverage the fast execution capability of a startup to create the market," adding, "We will continue to advance our technology and grow into a global AI leading company."