Kakao (035720) is accelerating efforts to enhance its services with artificial intelligence (AI) to boost profitability in its commerce business, a key pillar of its earnings growth.
According to industry sources on the 25th, Kakao is currently offering a pilot "Special Friends" feature to select KakaoTalk users.
"Special Friends" recommends suitable gift recipients based on anniversaries and friendship ties, extending the existing "Friends with Birthdays" service. For instance, if a friend recently changed their profile picture or status message, or has exchanged messages frequently with the user, AI analyzes these signals to determine a high level of closeness and suggests gifts accordingly. Kakao plans to gauge user response during the pilot phase before deciding on an official launch.
A Kakao official said, "The feature is designed to help users more naturally discover meaningful moments and anniversaries within their relationships with friends."
The new feature is seen as part of Kakao's AI-based "hyper-personalized service" strategy. It analyzes the relationship patterns of KakaoTalk users to add a new layer of storytelling to the gifting function.
The move aligns with Kakao's future growth strategy. Last year, Kakao launched "ChatGPT for Kakao," which integrates ChatGPT into KakaoTalk, and has been expanding services designed to convert it into commerce revenue.
Kakao has already linked its "Gift" and "Reservation" functions to the service and is broadening its AI agent ecosystem, enabling users to easily purchase products from various external partners such as Olive Young, Musinsa, and Hyundai Department Store.
Kakao is betting heavily on AI transformation in commerce because it views the shift as an inevitable trend for securing future growth drivers. On a consolidated basis, Kakao posted annual revenue of 8.0991 trillion won last year, up 3% from the previous year, as commerce transactions including "Gift" and "TalkDeal" topped 10 trillion won for the first time, driving overall earnings growth.
At the regular shareholders' meeting last month, Kakao CEO Chung Shina emphasized, "By the end of this year, numerous external partners will be connected to Kakao's AI ecosystem," adding, "We will unveil the early form of a differentiated AI agent."
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