SKT, Kakao, and KT Selected for “Everyone’s AI” Project, With All Three Mobile Carriers on Board
IT DAILY ·
✦ AI Summary
Six operators participated in the government’s nationwide AI service project, “Everyone’s AI,” and the Ministry of Science and ICT selected the SKT, Kakao, and KT consortia as the operators.
The three consortia plan to launch public AI services within the year through phone, messenger, and portal channels, and “Everyone’s AI” is a project to build a general-purpose AI chatbot and public AI agent based on domestic AI models.
The government will provide a total of 512 NVIDIA B200 GPUs this year, and from 2027 it plans to cover the costs needed to provide nationwide services through the government budget.
Six operators participated in the public call for the government’s nationwide AI service project, “Everyone’s AI.” The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 28th, after written and presentation reviews, that it had selected SKT, Kakao, and KT consortium operators. In institutional naming, the selection is described as the SK Telecom, Kakao, and KT consortium operators.
As a result, the project has been structured to include all three mobile carriers. The selected operators are the SKT consortium, the Kakao consortium, and the KT consortium, and LG Uplus is participating in the Kakao consortium.
The three consortia plan to launch public AI services within the year, using phone, messenger, and portal channels as points of contact. The image in the article is AI-generated.
The Ministry of Science and ICT conducted written and presentation reviews. In the written review, it examined technical suitability, with AI model and service competitiveness, and GPU utilization and infrastructure operation plans as evaluation items. The presentation review included a prototype video demonstration, and the evaluation items included service convenience, user acquisition strategies, service quality and safety plans, and plans to contribute to the AI ecosystem.
“Everyone’s AI” is a project based on domestic AI models. The project aims to build a general-purpose AI chatbot and a public AI agent that anyone in the country can use. It also seeks to support complex public-service application procedures and provide field-specific specialized services through startup collaboration.
The selected targets are the three consortia, and each has highlighted different public-facing channels as its differentiator. Among them, the SKT consortium is developing “action AI.” Its access channels will be apps, the web, phone, and text messages, and “action AI” is designed to be usable without installing a separate app, aiming to improve accessibility for digitally vulnerable groups. It will also handle AI calls for stores and government offices that do not have an official application programming interface(API), and it has functions to carry out user requests.
The Kakao consortium is combining a general-purpose AI chatbot and an AI agent based on a KakaoTalk-centered entry structure, and it is moving to build services linked to reservations, applications, and payments. It also plans to launch a light version of a phone-based AI service with LG Uplus within the year, and it will use an agent marketplace for linking specialized services from external AI companies.
The KT consortium will use partner channels such as the Naver portal Daum, Danawa, Musinsa, and Zigbang, and combine them with its own telecommunications and media infrastructure. Through this, it plans to unveil an integrated AI that processes a single conversational flow, from information search to public and everyday services.
With this selection result, in addition to SKT and KT, LG Uplus, which is participating in the Kakao consortium, will also take part in the “Everyone’s AI” project, meaning all three mobile carriers are now involved. A future challenge remains turning the three carriers’ subscriber bases and data center operating experience into tangible AI services.
The government will first provide a total of 512 NVIDIA B200 GPUs this year to the three selected operators, and from 2027 it plans to cover the costs needed to provide nationwide services through the government budget.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said it plans to sign agreements with the operators in September and to establish a working council. It also plans to hold consultations with relevant ministries on linking public data and to launch “Everyone’s AI” officially within the year after the beta service.
Based on this, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to position “Everyone’s AI” as Korea’s representative AI service and, together with the operators, work to improve public accessibility. It also plans to move forward with joint branding and promotional efforts with the operators.
Source: IT DAILY · Kim Byeong-ju
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241263
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Source: IT DAILY
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