The Return of Lee Hae-jin, Choi Soo-yeon Spreads Wings... Naver's Full-Scale Battle for 'OnService AI'

Lee Hae-jin Returns as Board Chairman After 7 Years at the Shareholders' Meeting on the 26th
Choi Soo-yeon's Reappointment as CEO Confirmed
Chairman Lee Expected to Lead AI Enhancement
"Naver's Fundamentals Remain Unchanged in the AI Era"
'On Service AI' Closely Integrates AI Technology into Search and Content Services
Specialized 'AI Briefing Service' Launches on the 27th
AI Technology Expected to Accelerate

Lee Hae-jin, Chairman of Naver, speaking after the 26th General Shareholders' Meeting held on the 26th at Naver Green Factory in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.

Lee Hae-jin, the founder of Naver, who returned as chairman of the Naver board of directors after 7 years, and CEO Choi Soo-yeon, whose reappointment was confirmed, announced Naver's artificial intelligence (AI) strategic direction called "On Service AI." "On Service AI" means closely integrating AI technology into Naver's search, advertising, shopping, and content services.

At the 26th general shareholders' meeting held on the 26th at Naver Green Factory in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Chairman Lee said, "The core reason Naver, which started in the internet era, was able to successfully overcome the wave of the mobile environment was the passion to turn innovative technology into services most needed by users and Naver's unique tenacity in competing with companies with greater capital." He added, "Naver's fundamentals in facing the AI era have not changed." This expressed his ambition to achieve results in the AI era using the methods Naver has employed so far.

At the meeting, the agenda to appoint Chairman Lee as an inside director was passed. He is expected to take on the important role of strengthening Naver's competitiveness in the AI era. Chairman Lee also expressed trust in CEO Choi, whose reappointment was confirmed that day. He said, "CEO Choi's leadership is the talent best equipped to understand what users need now and in the next era of the AI age," and added, "I will boldly support young leaders to focus on users and technology and take on challenges."

CEO Choi also emphasized her commitment to AI at the shareholders' meeting. She said, "Naver's AI direction is 'On Service,'" and added, "AI will naturally blend into core services, leading to tangible changes that users can feel at a rapid pace." She further stated, "We plan to introduce AI assistants in all services to provide personalized services and maximize customer benefits."

Example screen of Naver's 'AI Briefing' service launching on the 27th

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, speaking at the 26th General Shareholders' Meeting held on the 26th at Naver Green Factory in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do

The 'AI Briefing,' launching on the 27th, is a representative example. AI Briefing is a form where AI answers the content searched on Naver. It provides summarized answers and source documents to users' questions by understanding the search intent and gathering information from various locations. AI Briefing will be introduced in specialized forms for each service such as search, shopping, and places.

Services specialized in areas like maps, shopping, and Pay will also enhance performance with AI. CEO Choi said, "From search to payment, reservation, movement, and purchase, we will create opportunities in 'narrow fields' where Naver can excel, aligned with the flow of online and offline." She added, "We will strengthen user experience by first introducing the 'Commerce AI Assistant' within this year."

Naver is also working to secure core AI technologies. In collaboration with Intel, Naver is developing the AI semiconductor 'Gaudi2' and striving to secure AI technological capabilities. Recent analyses have shown that Gaudi2 outperforms NVIDIA's graphics processing unit (GPU) 'A100.'

Founder Lee has experience elevating Naver, once a latecomer, to the leading position in the domestic search engine market. The IT industry expects that with his return to the forefront of management based on this experience, Naver's competitiveness in the global AI market will be enhanced.

CEO Choi, appointed in 2022, has been driving AI-based service innovation, new business discovery, organizational restructuring, and proactive investment in C2C (consumer-to-consumer). Under CEO Choi's leadership, Naver achieved its best performance last year by becoming the first platform company to reach annual sales of 10 trillion won.