[why&next] "Now an AI Platform Company"... Why LGU+ Is Growing Its Own AI Brand (Comprehensive)

AI-specialized agile organization 'CDO' like Google
AI integrated brand 'Ixi' unveiled 4 months after launch
Promoting 'AI service that helps connect people'
Hwang Hyun-sik integrates AI across mid-to-long-term strategy 'U+3.0'

Hwang Gyu-byeol, Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer (CDO) of LG Uplus, held a press briefing near Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 25th to introduce the AI integrated brand 'IXI'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] LG Uplus, which established a specialized organization called 'CDO' in June for artificial intelligence (AI) development and data analysis, is unveiling its own integrated AI brand just four months later. Based on its self-developed AI engine, the company plans to transform into an AI platform enterprise equipped with various products such as a 'call bot' service, sports game predictions, and personalized movie recommendations tailored to each family's preferences.

"AI Service That Helps Connect People"

Hwang Gyu-byeol, Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer (CDO) of LG Uplus, held a press briefing near Jung-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 25th to introduce the integrated AI brand 'IXI,' stating, "It embodies our ambition to provide new services that change customers' daily lives based on AI and data with a customer-centric approach."

IXI means 'an AI service that helps connect people.' The familiar character widely known to consumers, 'Wizard Holman,' becomes the symbol of IXI. EVP Hwang said, "Through the integrated brand, we will expand digital touchpoints with customers and lead the creation of a platform that deeply understands customers based on data to increase customer dwell time."

LG Uplus will introduce an AI-based call bot to its customer center starting in November. When customers call the center, the AI engine converts voice to text, analyzes the customer's intent from the text, and responds with appropriate consultation content via voice. The service will first be applied to inquiries such as billing amount checks and billing address changes, then expanded to home service fault checks, contract discount expirations, and fee adjustments.

The 'Our Store AI' service for small business owners, scheduled for launch in February next year, assists with phone response tasks such as store information and automatic reservations. On U+tv, an AI engine provides personalized recommendations based on family profiles. The sports community platform 'Spoki' offers an AI match prediction service that analyzes all soccer World Cup match results and scores using the latest AI prediction technology. The goal of AI match prediction is to increase subscriber visits. Team leader Cho Hyun-chul said, "We plan to release all World Cup-related predicted results in November," adding, "We are also testing other sports besides soccer."

Self-Developed AI Engine Based on U+3.0

Shin Kwangsoo, Head of Personalization Technology Team, presenting the IPTV recommendation service

To develop these AI products, the company has independently developed core AI engines including voice, language, search, recommendation, and prediction. It is building a collaborative ecosystem with partners such as LG AI Research, which conducts large-scale AI projects, and other AI specialized companies. Prior to this, LG Uplus also reorganized into an agile organization, a work culture of American big tech companies like Google that operate with 'mobility' in small team units.

The AI engines and services created by CDO members operate under the 'U+3.0' strategy introduced by President Hwang Hyun-sik in September. Last month, President Hwang presented U+3.0 as a mid-to-long-term growth strategy for new businesses, stating, "We will establish a foundation for customer experience innovation by structuring the three major new businesses?Lifestyle, Play, and Growth Care?and future technologies represented by Web 3.0 into 'four major platforms.'"

EVP Hwang Gyu-byeol emphasized, "If we look at LG Uplus through the story of David and Goliath, we are the smaller David, but we are not falling behind Goliath," adding, "We want to show how Uplus is transforming through data as a 'data powerhouse.'" The CDO organization supports AI and data analysis services in all internal decision-making processes of the company.

To this end, the company is steadily expanding its development workforce. As of the press briefing in June, the LG Uplus CDO organization had about 200 members, with approximately 35 more expected to be added by the end of the year. Around 140 employees work in data and AI fields, while the rest are responsible for product and strategy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.