Kakao plans to introduce a service later this year that allows selected users to summon an artificial intelligence assistant, or AI agent, from anywhere within KakaoTalk to search and summarize messages and even send replies. In the first half of next year, the company will also create a space bringing together AI agents developed by Kakao, its partners and users. The goal is to transform KakaoTalk into an integrated platform that connects various AI services and handles users' everyday tasks.
“Kakao has spent the past 15 years connecting everything in the world, bringing friends, colleagues and families together through KakaoTalk and connecting their daily lives through appointments, bill splitting, gifts and content,” Kakao CEO Shina Chung said during her keynote address at the company's annual if(kakao)26 conference at Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 13. “We will now use AI technology to create the connections of the next 10 years.”
At the event, Kakao unveiled its new AI assistant, “Kanana Space.” When users swipe across the KakaoTalk screen with two fingers, Ryan, a character from Kakao Friends, appears. Users can request tasks such as sending messages, managing schedules and searching the web through voice or text commands. A key feature is that users can access AI without switching to a separate app while using KakaoTalk.
For example, when a user says, “Space, summarize only the work-related messages among my unread messages,” the assistant summarizes items requiring attention and schedule changes from work-related chat rooms. If the user then says, “Reply in the project chat room, 'I'll check and get back to you by this morning,'” the assistant sends the reply to that chat room. Kakao began accepting advance applications on Oct. 13 and will conduct a closed beta test (CBT) for selected users in December.
Kakao plans to expand the assistant's capabilities to ordering, gifting, reservations and money transfers. For example, if a user says, “Order what I ordered last time,” the assistant will find the product based on previous purchase records, apply available coupons and prepare the steps required to place and pay for the order. Users will make final decisions, including payment authorization. Kakao is expected to first introduce services using Coupang Eats, its first agent-to-agent (A2A) integration partner.
Kakao is also expanding its AI ecosystem around KakaoTalk. The company will conduct a small-scale CBT of “Kanvas,” a tool that allows users to easily create and run AI agents on a PC, before the end of the year. Agents created with Kanvas can be connected to KakaoTalk, allowing users to assign tasks to them directly within KakaoTalk conversations. Chung cited a tax-filing agent that could collect the documents needed for complex tax returns and handle the process through tax payment as an example.
In the first half of next year, Kakao plans to introduce a space within KakaoTalk where users can access their own teams of AI agents. The company intends to support agents built not only with Kanvas but also with other frameworks through the same interface.
“'Connection for Everyone' is both a promise Kakao has upheld and an unwavering principle that will continue into the AI era,” Chung said. “By adding intelligence that understands each individual and works according to their needs to the foundation of connection for everyone, we will enable anyone to experience AI in their familiar everyday lives.”
