Kakao Hosts If Kakao Conference
KakaoTalk Unveils First Overhaul in 15 Years, Puts AI Front and Center
Chatroom Folders, Message Editing, and Profile Updates Introduced
Voice Talk Now Includes Recording, with AI-Powered Call Summaries
CEO Jung Shinah: "KakaoTalk’s Chat Window Is a Window of Possibilities"
Kakao is set to undergo an unprecedented overhaul of its "national messenger" KakaoTalk, introducing artificial intelligence (AI) features for the first time in 15 years since its launch. Starting next month, KakaoTalk users will be able to access the latest model of OpenAI's ChatGPT directly from the KakaoTalk chat tab without installing a separate app. Features such as organizing chats by folder, editing messages, as well as Voice Talk call recording and summarization, will also become immediately available.
Jung Shinah, CEO of Kakao, stated during the keynote speech at the "If Kakao 25" conference held at Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on the 23rd, "This overhaul reflects Kakao's strategy to respond swiftly to changing times," adding, "Such a level of change is unprecedented in KakaoTalk's history." Jung emphasized, "The phrase 'Katalk-hae' will come to mean more than just 'send a message'-it will represent a new way to experience a broader world through Kakao AI."
Jung Shinah, CEO of Kakao, is delivering the keynote speech at the If Kakao 25 Conference held on the morning of the 23rd at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Kakao
ChatGPT Directly Accessible in KakaoTalk... On-Device AI 'Kanana in KakaoTalk' Also Introduced
Kakao announced that its 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 model version of ChatGPT used in KakaoTalk is GPT-5. Additionally, it will be integrated with other Kakao services such as Kakao Gift, Kakao Map, Reservations, and Melon through the 'Kakao Agent.'
Jung explained that the integration of ChatGPT into KakaoTalk is "an effort to lower the barrier to AI by connecting the AI experience, which has been centered on overseas services, to domestic KakaoTalk users."
Yoo Yongha, Performance Leader of the Kakao AI Agent Platform, stated, "In our collaboration, we focused on enabling KakaoTalk users to use ChatGPT safely and easily, 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 very pleased to work with Kakao to provide ChatGPT in a new, localized way," adding, "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 AI processing is handled locally on the device without passing through a server.
Jung emphasized, "For a messenger app developer, rather than a device manufacturer, to implement on-device AI as a feature is a first both domestically and internationally, and is a meaningful achievement," adding, "Because every process operates within the on-device environment, it ensures safety and guarantees user privacy."
Kanana has been advancing since Kanana Nano was released as open source in February and upgraded 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 generation.
Kang Jihoon, Performance Leader of AI Discovery, also introduced 'Kanana Search,' an AI search service to be added to KakaoTalk chatrooms. This service allows users to search and share results directly within the chatroom, with the search function always accessible next to the chat input field.
Kim Byunghak, Performance Leader of Kanana, explained that the proprietary language model 'Kanana' is evolving into both on-device and agentic AI. Regarding Kanana version 1.5, which was upgraded in May after being open-sourced in February, he stated that it is being further advanced to version 2.0 by strengthening its inference structure. Currently, Kanana models are applied to on-device AI, call recording, call and chat summarization, consultation manager, short-form analysis, and short-form generation.
Kim added, "Users will naturally experience the Kanana model not only in KakaoTalk but also across various Kakao services," and continued, "We will continue to expand this experience and make daily life more convenient through ongoing research in agentic AI."
KakaoTalk’s First Major Overhaul in 15 Years... Chatroom Folders, Message Editing, and Voice Talk Recording
KakaoTalk is also set for its most significant transformation in 15 years. Hong Mintaek, Chief Product Officer at Kakao, explained, "We 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 'Delete Message' feature released in August, a 'Message Edit' feature will also be added. New features will include the ability to view unread messages by pulling down the 'Unread' folder in the chat tab, and Kanana will provide summaries of unread chatroom messages.
Voice Talk will also gain features such as call recording, transcription, AI summarization, and search. Any KakaoTalk user can record calls via Voice Talk, and Kanana will organize and summarize the recorded content as text.
Summarization of unread chatroom messages and transcription and summarization of Voice Talk calls will be handled by AI. To protect user information, the summarized content will be deleted immediately after processing.
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' in Open Chat will allow users to view trending conversations in a feed without entering individual chatrooms. A comment feature will also be added to Open Chat.
In the Friends tab, users can view updates to friends’ profiles and posts in a timeline format. When users update their profile photo, status message, D-Day, or post content, it will be displayed in a grid feed on their profile home. The grid feed resembles the image-sharing social networking service Instagram. Users can also set the visibility of posts and whether to allow comments on their profile. If users do not wish to see updates from certain friends, they can hide those friends.
The new KakaoTalk feature update (v25.8.0) will begin rolling out to users sequentially from the afternoon of the 23rd. Jung stated, "KakaoTalk’s chat window will become a 'window of possibilities' where more can be achieved," adding, "We will continue to evolve KakaoTalk into an AI that seamlessly integrates into daily life and proactively resolves and executes tasks for all 50 million users."
Meanwhile, this year's If Kakao conference is being held from the 23rd to the 25th under the slogan "Possibility Becomes Everyday."
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