[MWC On-site] SKT Partners with Promising US Startups to "Enhance AI Assistant Capabilities"

Business Agreement with Humane, Perplexity, etc.
Advancing PPA Project... Enhancing Service Quality

SK Telecom is advancing the personalized AI assistant field by partnering consecutively with AI-specialized startups in the United States.

On the 28th (local time), SKT formed strategic partnerships to enhance the Personalized AI Assistant (PAA) business with next-generation AI companies gaining attention, such as Humane and Perplexity, at the mobile exhibition 'MWC 2024' held in Barcelona, Spain.

On the 28th (local time) at the MWC exhibition, Yu Sang-yong, President of SKT (third from the right), and Imran Chaudhry, CEO of Humane (third from the left), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing an MOU for on-device AI collaboration.
[Photo by SKT]

Humane is a company founded by former Apple design and software personnel. It has attracted global attention by unveiling the world's first wearable device in the form of a clothing pin equipped with on-device AI, called the 'AI Pin.'

The AI Pin is recognized as the next-generation mobile device following smartphones and successfully raised $100 million in Series C funding in March last year. Investors include Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, and Microsoft.

At MWC, SKT President Yoosang Yoo and Humane CEO Imran Chaudhri, along with key representatives from both companies, signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the AI Pin in Korea and pursue various possible cooperation plans between the two companies.

By combining their AI capabilities, the two companies plan to lead the enhancement of PAA service quality and the creation of related ecosystems through new devices rather than smartphones.

Humane will apply SKT's proprietary service 'A. Dot' to the AI Pin, and SKT will review providing communication networks, rate plans, and distribution channels for the AI Pin's entry into the domestic market. Imran Chaudhri, CEO of Humane, said, "Through this cooperation, both companies will mutually share their vision for the future of AI and realize it in the global market."

On the 27th (local time) at the MWC exhibition hall, Yu Sang-yong, President of SKT (4th from the right), and Dmitry Shvelenko, Chief Business Officer of Perplexity (4th from the left), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing an MOU for AI business and technology cooperation.
[Photo by SKT]

Additionally, SKT signed an agreement with Perplexity for business and technology development. Perplexity is a startup providing conversational AI search services and is recognized as an emerging strong competitor in the search market following Google. It is characterized by providing information search methods, final search results, and sources simultaneously based on AI. In January this year, Perplexity secured $73.6 million in funding from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Nvidia, and others.

SKT and Perplexity plan to accelerate the global PAA business and develop a world-class generative search engine. SKT expects to develop a top-tier global PAA by combining Anthropic's large language model (LLM), with which it is already cooperating, and Perplexity's generative AI search technology.

The two companies will jointly promote ▲ promotions targeting SKT customers ▲ development of a joint search model to be embedded in global AI assistants and A. Dot, among other initiatives.

SKT anticipates that the partnerships with Humane and Perplexity, established during MWC, will significantly contribute to securing global AI capabilities.

SKT President Yoosang Yoo stated, "This partnership will be the foundation to greatly enhance SKT's capabilities in the PAA sector, which will be the core of the AI market," adding, "We will continue to be a game changer leading the global PAA field by collaborating with companies possessing the highest capabilities."