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NAVER Enhances Search Experience with Generative AI

- NAVER secures a competitive edge in the AI search market through its unmatched search infrastructure and rich data ecosystem

- Laying the groundwork for phased expansion from vertical agents covering information, shopping, local services, and finance to an integrated agent with customizable UI/UX design

- Plans include increasing AI Briefing QC coverage to 20% within the year, expanding topics such as finance and healthcare, and enabling support for multilingual and multimedia formats, including summaries of long videos and overseas documents

- Building task-specific search LLMs based on HyperCLOVA X and actively investing in AI search content

- Launching the tentatively named “AI Highlight Project” to foster an AI search ecosystem that highlights creators

June 12, 2025

On June 12, NAVER Corporation (CEO Choi Soo-yeon) introduced its vision for AI-powered search in the new AI era. The company revealed its long-term roadmap for developing a “unified agent” that delivers a seamless, end-to-end AI search experience for users with vertical agents in information, shopping, local services, and finance.

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Securing competitiveness in the AI search market through unmatched search infrastructure, rich data ecosystem, and strength in vertical service platforms

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Kim Sang-bum, Leader of NAVER’s AI Search, began by highlighting how AI is reshaping the current search environment. Kim explained, “As generative AI technology advances, search functionality is expanding beyond basic queries to address users’ increasingly complex needs.” He added, “As one of the few global companies with its own search engine, NAVER is uniquely positioned in the AI search market, thanks to its unmatched infrastructure and rich data ecosystem tailored to Korean users.”

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For nearly 27 years, NAVER has continuously advanced its search infrastructure, building on long-standing operational expertise and a robust database to gain deep insight into user search behavior. In August last year, the company significantly expanded its web indexing scale and performance to meet the growing diversity in user search needs. From its early stages, the company recognized the value of content and vertical services, differentiating itself from global big tech by centering its search strategy around them. Key examples include user-generated content (UGC) platforms such as NAVER Blog, Cafe, and Knowledge iN, as well as vertical services like NAVER Shopping, Map, and Pay.

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NAVER is also ramping up its investment in search infrastructure. Kim stated, “We plan to enhance search quality by developing a diversified lineup of search large language models (LLMs) tailored to specific tasks, such as query analysis, summarization, and document parsing, while actively investing in content essential for AI search.”

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Expansion of AI Briefing coverage to 20%, inclusion of broader topics such as finance and healthcare, and multilingual and multimedia support for overseas documents and long-form video summaries by year-end

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The “AI Briefing” feature, now part of NAVER’s integrated search, has seen its visibility increase by nearly threefold since its launch. User engagement has also grown significantly, with clicks on the “See More” button below AI Briefing rising by 50% and clicks on related questions surging to 3.4 times higher than those in the previous keyword suggestion section, indicating improved search satisfaction. AI Briefing is designed to seamlessly align with user search intent, encouraging a natural exploration of follow-up queries. In addition, the click-through rate (CTR) for the AI Briefing section is 8%p higher than that of conventional answer-type content, and time spent on the top search area has increased by 22% since its launch.

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By the end of the year, NAVER plans to expand AI Briefing visibility to approximately 20% while sequentially introducing topic-specific versions focused on areas such as finance and healthcare. The types of AI Briefing will also diversify, incorporating multilingual support and multimedia integration, including translation and summarization of international documents and concise highlights of long-form videos. These topic-based AI Briefing will serve as the foundation for future vertical AI agents.

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Strength in vertical search through topic-specific databases and services in information, shopping, local, and finance: NAVER to launch unified agent supporting entire search journey

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Leveraging its extensive content and vertical service capabilities, NAVER has launched various AI Briefing types, such as official/multisource, short-form, location-based, and shopping-specific, setting itself apart from other platforms. Kim Jae-yeop, Leader of NAVER’s Intelligent Search X, stated, “AI Briefing, built on the strengths of vertical search that combines topic-specific databases and services in information, shopping, local, and finance, will form the backbone of various vertical agents.” He added, “We plan to introduce a personalized unified agent that seamlessly connects the entire search journey into one cohesive user experience.”

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Kim also unveiled plans for a new feature set to launch next year. Tentatively named the “AI Tab,” it will appear as a separate page within NAVER’s integrated search. Through continuous dialogue, it aims to understand user context more deeply and ultimately support actions such as booking, purchasing, and payment through reasoning-based assistance. For example, if a user inputs “Recommend places to visit in Jeju with a 5-year-old” in the AI Tab, the place agent will suggest destinations based on the query’s context. Once a destination is selected and a course is requested, NAVER Map will provide the most optimized route. If the user asks to modify the itinerary, the AI will consider the entire route, along with conditions like child-friendly venues and parking, and even lead the user to the reservation process.

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Launching tentatively named “AI Highlight Project” to elevate creator visibility in AI search, exploring specialized UX design to strengthen the content ecosystem

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NAVER is also preparing an internal initiative tentatively named the “AI Highlight Project,” aimed at generating more opportunities for content creators in the AI search ecosystem. For instance, creator content cited in the AI Briefing may be marked with highlight badges to drive traffic, and the platform develops an intuitive UX that allows users to directly join a Cafe, add a creator as a neighbor, or subscribe to paid content, all within AI-optimized source displays.

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Kim noted, “NAVER has maintained its leadership in the search market through its distinct integrated search model, powered by deep insight into Korean users. In the AI search era, we will continue to enhance our vertical agents and ultimately deliver a unified agent that enables a seamless, connected search experience.”

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