Naver Corp to double down on AI investment in South Korea

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South Korea-based technology company Naver Corp. (NASDAQ: NHNCF) has reaffirmed its commitment to developing safe artificial intelligence (AI) models tailor-made for the local market amid rising adoption rates.

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon disclosed the company’s ambition to establish itself in the AI ecosystem as a long-term objective to be achieved alongside other goals. Choi unveiled the plans during her keynote address at Innovate Korea 2024, emphasizing the need for guardrails to protect consumers.

Choi’s speech highlighted the potential of AI systems to improve workplace productivity and efficiency without forcing firms to break the bank. After underscoring its benefits, her speech veered toward the downside of emerging technologies, particularly misuse by bad actors and the grim potential of data breaches.

“AI technology is a game changer which is developing rapidly, although it also stirs up several concerns,” said Choi. “Naver has been sincere about AI and we’ve been putting much effort into making a perfect Korean-language AI model.”

To reduce the chances of misuse, Naver says it will earmark a chunk of its resources toward safe AI systems, focusing on research and development. Choi disclosed that the firm has hit the ground running by diverting 20% of its revenues from the last 12 months toward AI research.

A sizable chunk of Naver’s revenue is expected to be used to train employees to support the company’s research ambitions. The firm famously launched a safety framework to guide its internal operations.

Rather than focus solely on internal operations, the company plans to collaborate with other leading industry players to launch a global safety standard. Naver executives say that diversity and sovereignty are two additional targets in the quest for safe AI, and the company plans to support its partners in achieving their own internal safety objectives.

“We’d like to contribute to the diverse expansion of the global AI industry,” said Choi. “We have our Naver AI Safety Framework that can guide AI safety. We believe we can also present a new alternative to other countries that want to grow their AI industry.”

Racking up early wins

Naver has recorded a string of successes since venturing into AI following the release of a chatbot to rival offerings from OpenAI and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The latest model, an improvement from its earlier HyperCLOVA X, demonstrates a superior understanding of the Korean language while holding its own in coding, math and logic tasks.

With a string of high-profile partnerships under its belt with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the company has plans to launch a new data center to house at least 600,000 servers. Experts opine that the company could invest as much as $754 billion on AI infrastructure and research before the decade’s end.

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