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NAVER Users in a New Era of Accessible, User-Friendly Generative AI 

- NAVER unveils generative artificial intelligence (AI) products for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creators, and businesses 
- CEO Choi Soo-yeon anticipates HyperCLOVA X to create “winning loop”, that accelerates growth and success for NAVER partners
- NAVER to enhance usability and business competitiveness as well as expand the AI technology ecosystem based on high-quality data and strong infrastructures 
- HyperCLOVA X to improve SME efficiency, innovate creative experiences and more

 

August 24, 2023

 

NAVER Corporation (CEO Choi Soo-yeon) held “DAN 23” conference on August 24 at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas to share NAVER’s generative artificial intelligence (AI)–centered technological and business strategies with creators, sellers, investors, and other partners of TEAM NAVER.

At the conference, NAVER introduced HyperCLOVA X, its generative AI, alongside the conversational AI service “CLOVA X” and generative AI search “CUE:” that leverage HyperCLOVA X. NAVER’s generative AI-based products and their applications to NAVER’s main services, such as search, commerce, and advertising, were also revealed.

 

NAVER’s AI recommendation technologies and operational experience, accumulated in various areas from search to shopping, reservations, user-generated content (UGC), etc., underpin the technological competitiveness of HyperCLOVA XIn the keynote speech, CEO Choi Soo-yeon emphasized that search and generative AI are similar in that both essentially aim to satisfy users’ needs and deliver desired results. She pointed out that NAVER’s focus on users and its efforts to understand their underlying intentions have been consistent even before the advent of generative AI.

She said, “NAVER has been refining technology and enhancing usability by applying various AI-based recommendation technologies in search, shopping, reservations, reviews, UGC, maps, videos, etc. Decades of understanding our users, service operation expertise, and technical capabilities are all vital pillars supporting the competitive strength of our current backbone model HyperCLOVA X."

Furthermore, she credited NAVER’s competitive strength in generative AI to its advanced technologies and quality data, made possible by consistently investing 22% of its operating profit in R&D, and a robust infrastructure, which includes its own data center (IDC) that has never experienced an outage.

NAVER plans to open Gak Sejong, a hyperscale data center capable of accommodating over 600,000 server units (the largest of its kind by a single company in Asia), this November. Gak Sejong will play a key role as the main hub for hyperscale AI operations.

Choi said, “At the heart of generative AI and its associated technical products is the enhancement of competitiveness for users, sellers, and creators. HyperCLOVA X would further accelerate the ‘winning loop’ in which various services and partners are interconnected, fostering mutual growth that leads to the platform’s growth.” 

Introducing the conversational AI service “CLOVA X” and the search service“CUE:,” both based on HyperCLOVA X
At the conference, NAVER also introduced the conversational AI service “CLOVA X” and the search service “CUE:”, both based on HyperCLOVA X. CLOVA X starts a beta test today, and CUE: will be unveiled in September.

CLOVA X provides a conversational experience by creating, summarizing, inferencing, translating, and coding, and is capable of continuous multi-turn dialogue. Notably, CLOVA X will feature a “Skill” system that connects to various internal and external NAVER service APIs, enhancing the user experience by filling gaps in the language model’s generative capabilities and facilitating access to NAVER’s vertical services.

In addition, the beta service for the HyperCLOVA X–based new search service CUE: will start in September. This generative AI search service will provide comprehensive search results by understanding complex and long queries with sophisticated intent and utilizing the latest reliable information.

Expectations are high for the new changes generative AI will bring to partners, empowering everyone with technology without any blind spots.
NAVER is also preparing to release new generative AI–based technical tools for sellers, creators, and advertisers, which can be immediately applied in their daily activities. These include technologies for sellers to improve business efficiency, “CLOVA for Writing,” an innovative writing tool for creators, and “CLOVA for AD,” a generative AI-based advertising product for advertisers integrating generative AI across various NAVER services.

 

Choi stated, “At NAVER, our dream is to change the world with technology. We are fully prepared to embrace the transformation brought by generative AI. We are committed to supporting sellers, creators, and partnering companies with robust technology and services, fostering both growth and diversity.”

The conference also staged discussions of the AI foundation model for robots currently under research at NAVER LABS, NAVER’s AI ethics policy, an AI ecosystem with startups, as well as current status and future direction of various businesses of TEAM NAVER, including NAVER Pay, NAVER Webtoon, and global customer to customer (C2C) businesses.