[Conference Call] Kakao: "Joining Hands with Google... Expanding Collaboration to Smart Glasses"

Discussing TPU operation plans with Google Cloud
Current user base of "ChatGPT for Kakao" reaches 8 million
"Kanana in KakaoTalk" to be officially launched in the first quarter

Kakao has entered into a strategic partnership with Google to fully launch collaboration in on-device artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation devices. On February 12, Kakao CEO Chung Shina officially announced the strategic partnership with Google during the conference call on the company’s full-year 2025 earnings, saying, "We have agreed to begin full-scale global collaboration to deliver next-generation AI experiences on the device side."

The two companies will first work directly with the Android development team to advance on-device AI. Kakao has been operating an on-device AI service on a trial basis through "Kanana in KakaoTalk" since last year, and plans to explore a variety of services that can maximize the value of data assets within the Kakao ecosystem through cooperation with Android.

Kakao will also restructure its AI infrastructure strategy. The company stated that it will move beyond a GPU-centric infrastructure and build a chip lineup optimized for each model and service to improve capital efficiency. In particular, it is discussing with Google Cloud how to operate a large-scale TPU cloud.

The scope of collaboration will be expanded to smart devices. CEO Chung said, "We will also begin collaboration on Google AI Glass, which will be released in the future." The idea is to formulate hypotheses and run experiments on how user experience will change when Kakao’s services are combined with various AI form factors beyond smartphones.

The expansion of AI services within KakaoTalk will also accelerate. CEO Chung said that "ChatGPT for Kakao" secured 2 million users immediately after its launch and that the number of users has now grown to 8 million. He explained that a new traffic pattern is emerging within KakaoTalk, where users search for and generate content that did not previously exist.

This year, Kakao plans to strengthen touchpoints where, within the native usage flow of the messenger, users naturally transition into AI services, thereby securing a meaningful user base. The company also plans to discover high value-added AI usage scenarios by utilizing Kakao’s own agents.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, Kakao plans to end the closed beta test (CBT) of Kanana in KakaoTalk, which has been available only on iOS, and officially launch the service on both Android and iOS. The on-device AI service Kanana in KakaoTalk has been in CBT with a small group of users since last year. Although there were initial concerns about a high entry barrier because users have to download the AI model directly to their devices, more than 80% of invited users completed the model download.

Currently, about 70% of CBT users continue to use the service, which is considered a high retention rate for a new service. The most frequently used features were schedule reminders and briefings, and among agent usage scenarios, commerce accounted for the largest share.