Kakao Hosts If Kakao Conference
Unveils KakaoTalk Overhaul with AI at the Forefront
Chatroom Folders, Message Editing, and Profile Updates Introduced
Voice Talk Recording Added... AI Provides Call Summaries
CEO Jung Sinah: "The KakaoTa
Kakao is launching a major overhaul of its “national messenger” KakaoTalk, introducing artificial intelligence (AI) features for the first time in 15 years since its release. Starting next month, KakaoTalk users will be able to access OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model directly from the KakaoTalk chat tab without installing a separate application. Additional features such as chatroom folder classification, message editing, as well as voice call recording and summarization, will also be introduced.
Jung Shinah, CEO of Kakao, stated during the keynote speech at the “If Kakao 25” conference held at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on the morning of the 23rd, “This overhaul reflects Kakao’s strategy to respond swiftly to changing times,” adding, “The phrase ‘Katalk-hae’ will come to mean more than just ‘send a message’-it will represent experiencing a broader world through Kakao AI.”
Jung Shin-ah, CEO of Kakao, delivering the keynote speech at the "If Kakao 25" conference held on the 23rd at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
ChatGPT Available Directly in KakaoTalk... On-Device AI ‘Kanana in KakaoTalk’ Also Introduced
Kakao announced that a joint product with OpenAI is scheduled for release next month. Any KakaoTalk user can access the service by tapping ‘ChatGPT’ at the top of the chat tab, and conversations and content generated via ChatGPT can be shared within chatrooms. The version of ChatGPT available in KakaoTalk will be GPT-5. In addition, users will be able to access features such as gifting, KakaoMap, reservations, and Melon through the “Kakao Agent.”
Yoo Yongha, Performance Leader of Kakao AI Agent Platform, explained, “In our collaboration, we focused on making ChatGPT safe and easy for KakaoTalk users and on expanding the AI ecosystem by connecting Kakao and external services within ChatGPT.”
Oliver Jay, Head of International Business at OpenAI, said, “We are delighted to partner with Kakao to offer ChatGPT in a new, localized way. By combining the ChatGPT experience with the Kakao ecosystem, we expect AI to become even more useful in people’s daily lives.”
Kakao’s proprietary AI model, Kanana, will also be applied to KakaoTalk. “Kanana in KakaoTalk” utilizes “Kanana Nano,” an on-device AI model developed by Kakao. As an on-device AI model, all computations are processed directly on the user’s device without passing through a server. Kanana has been enhanced since Kakao open-sourced Kanana Nano in February and upgraded it in May. Currently, Kanana models are applied to on-device AI, call recording, call and chat summarization, consultation manager, short-form analysis, and short-form creation, among others.
Kang, Performance Leader, also introduced “Kanana Search,” an AI search service to be embedded in KakaoTalk chatrooms. This service allows users to search and share results directly within chatrooms, with the search function always accessible next to the chat input box.
Kim Byunghak, Performance Leader for Kanana, explained that the proprietary language model “Kanana” is evolving into both on-device and agentic AI. He stated that after open-sourcing the model in February and upgrading it in May, version 1.5 of Kanana has been further enhanced in inference structure and is being advanced to version 2.0.
Kim emphasized, “Users will be able to experience the Kanana model naturally not only in KakaoTalk but also across various Kakao services. We will continue expanding this experience and making daily life more convenient through ongoing research in agentic AI.”
KakaoTalk Overhauled After 15 Years... Chatroom Folders, Message Editing, and Voice Call Recording Added
KakaoTalk is also set for its most significant transformation in 15 years. Hong Mintaek, Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Kakao, explained, “We have addressed user inconveniences based on their feedback.”
First, the chat tab will introduce a “chatroom folder” feature, allowing users to categorize chatrooms according to custom categories. In addition to the improved “message deletion” feature introduced in August, a “message editing” function will also be added. There will also be a feature to view unread messages by slightly pulling down the chatroom list in the “unread” folder within the chat tab, and Kanana will provide summaries of unread chatroom messages.
VoiceTalk will also be equipped with features such as call recording, transcription, AI summarization, and search. Any KakaoTalk user will be able to record calls through VoiceTalk, and Kanana will organize and summarize the recorded content into text.
The third tab in KakaoTalk will be revamped as the “Now Tab,” where users can access “short-form” and “open chat.” The newly introduced “Open Chat Community” will allow users to see trending conversations in a feed without entering individual chatrooms. An open chat comment feature will also be introduced.
In the friends tab, users will be able to view updates to friends’ profiles and posts in a timeline format. When a user updates their profile photo, status message, D-Day, or creates a post, it will appear in a grid feed on their profile home. Users can also set the visibility and comment permissions for posts within their profile.
The new feature update for KakaoTalk (v25.8.0) will begin rolling out to users sequentially from the afternoon of the 23rd. CEO Jung emphasized, “KakaoTalk’s chat window will become a ‘window of possibilities’ where even more can be realized.”
Meanwhile, this year’s If Kakao conference will be held from the 23rd to the 25th under the slogan “Possibility Becomes Everyday.”
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