LG Uplus Partners with Google to Unveil 'Iksio AI Assistant' Powered by Gemini (Comprehensive)

Say "Hey Iksi" During a Call to Summon the AI Assistant
AI Provides Real-Time Information, Shared with Call Participants
Collaboration with Google Cloud... Utilizing Gemini LLM
Plans to Launch Bundled Plans Linked with Google Drive
Advancing Toward 'Actionable AI' That Can Make Reservations

LG Uplus has unveiled 'Iksio AI Assistant,' an AI agent service based on artificial intelligence (AI) that can be used even during phone calls. This feature, developed using Google Cloud's model, is characterized by the AI's ability to understand the user's call context and provide relevant information. With this, the company aims to usher in a full-fledged era of 'customer-tailored AI.'

Jaewon Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Division at LG Uplus, introduced the AI assistant feature at a press briefing held in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of November 13. He stated, "Over the past year, Iksio has proven the tangible value of AI by providing reassurance to customers. Now, it will rapidly evolve into a more personalized AI that saves customers' time and supports a more convenient life."

Jaewon Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Division at LG Uplus, is introducing the 4A Intelligence strategy at a press briefing. Photo by LG Uplus

The event was attended by Executive Vice President Lee, Karen Tio, Vice President and Head of Platform & Device Partnerships for Google Asia Pacific, and officials from both companies.

The Iksio AI Assistant provides relevant information by understanding the context of conversations in real time during calls. When customers using the Iksio app say "Hey, Iksi" or press the call button during a call, the AI joins the conversation and finds information. For example, if a user asks, "Hey Iksi, what's the weather like this weekend?" while planning with a friend, the AI searches for weather information and delivers the result via voice. The information suggested by the AI can also be heard by the person on the other end of the call.

Sangyeop Lee, CTO (Executive Vice President) of LG Uplus, emphasized, "Using conventional large language models (LLMs), it took more than 8 seconds for the AI to be called, search, and provide information. However, by applying the world's first 'Voice to Voice (V2V)' model, we have reduced this to 3 seconds."

Customer privacy was also considered in the process of using the AI assistant. The Iksio AI Assistant uses "on-device" speech recognition (STT) technology, which processes information within the smartphone without passing through a server. Conversation content is not transmitted to the server before the AI assistant is called; only the content spoken after the call is used for AI search.

Sangyeop Lee, CTO (Executive Vice President) of LG Uplus, Karen Tio, Vice President and Head of Platform & Device Partnerships for Google Asia Pacific, and Jaewon Lee, Vice President and Head of Consumer Division at LG Uplus, are introducing the Iksio AI assistant. (From left) Provided by LG Uplus

LG Uplus partnered with Google Cloud to develop the AI assistant feature. The Iksio AI Assistant was developed using Google's latest LLM, 'Gemini 2.5 Flash Live.' By leveraging this model, ultra-low latency streaming AI is applied, enabling the AI to understand the intent of questions and provide answers without disrupting the flow of conversation. In addition, the information provided by the AI is cross-verified with Google search results to enhance accuracy. LG Uplus has implemented an AI conversation search feature based on call history by combining its proprietary on-device language and classification models with Gemini's contextual understanding technology.

LG Uplus explained that it utilizes the Gemini model for the Iksio AI Assistant's quick response. CTO Lee said, "The in-call search feature requires a voice-to-voice language model that can immediately deliver spoken input as voice output, and currently, Gemini's voice-to-voice technology is ahead. We also considered Google's strong infrastructure in search."

Going forward, LG Uplus plans to expand the AI assistant's capabilities into 'actionable AI' that can immediately execute tasks such as scheduling, location, and reservations mentioned during calls, based on its collaboration with Google Cloud. The goal is to connect conversations understood by the AI to real-world actions, such as making restaurant reservations, to enhance customer convenience.

Additionally, the company plans to launch products linked with Google's paid subscription service 'Google One.' These products will be offered either in conjunction with existing mobile plans or as standalone options.

LG Uplus will operate a beta service of the AI assistant feature for select customers until the end of this year, before expanding it to all customers in the first half of next year. The beta service began on November 12.

Furthermore, LG Uplus plans to fully implement its 'custom intelligence' strategy focused on customer convenience, centered around the AI assistant, which is the core feature of Iksio 2.0. Custom intelligence is the second phase of the 4A Intelligence strategy that LG Uplus unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 earlier this year, and the company aims to introduce AI focused on customer convenience.

Karen Tio, Vice President and Head of Platform & Device Partnerships for Google Asia Pacific, emphasized, "The collaboration with LG Uplus is proof of what two companies with a shared vision can achieve together. This is a deep and strategic alliance that goes beyond a single product, encompassing consumers, businesses, and infrastructure industries as a whole."

Executive Vice President Lee stated, "Through AI services that understand me and support convenience in my daily life, we will deliver the value of our brand philosophy, 'Simply U+,' which is to provide everyone with a comfortable and simple daily life. Through Iksio, we will continue to enhance our AI competitiveness so customers can experience the benefits of simple AI."

LG Uplus has unveiled 'Iksio AI Assistant,' an AI agent service based on artificial intelligence (AI) that can be used even during phone calls. A model from LG Uplus is introducing the Iksio AI Assistant. Provided by LG Uplus