Kakao Publishes First Technology Ethics Report: "Technology Must Be Used for Good to Foster Healthy Innovation"

Kakao announced on the 28th that it has published the '2023 Kakao Community Tech Ethics Report' for the first time. The report contains various activities of the Kakao Community Tech Ethics Committee, which was newly established in July last year.

Kakao published the '2023 Kakao Community Technology Ethics Report' for the first time on the 28th.
[Image provided by Kakao]

Kakao launched the 'Kakao Community Tech Ethics Committee (Tech for Good Committee)' as the first domestic company to continuously review tech ethics across the community and research ways to develop it together with society. Chaeyoung Lee, Head of Kakao's Technology Division, serves as the chairperson, and the committee consists of a total of eight members, including chief technology officers (CTOs) from major community affiliates. The committee's operations were supported by Kakao's Human Rights and Tech Ethics Team.

The committee held a total of 11 regular meetings this year and included the main activity results and achievements in the report. It advanced the tech ethics governance system of the Kakao community. In terms of strengthening technology stability and transparency, it aimed to lay the foundation for responsible service development by establishing AI development principles and developing a self-assessment tool for AI ethics regulations.

In March, the committee newly established the 'Guidelines for Responsible AI in the Kakao Community.' The guidelines inherit the key principles of the existing Algorithm Ethics Charter while adding ▲ethics-based data collection and training ▲social bias vigilance ▲expansion of algorithm explainability to ensure AI technology is safer and can be applied to various services. To implement the guidelines and principles, internal organizations and execution systems were also enhanced.

Additionally, to deliver technology more easily and transparently to users, Kakao has published an online magazine called 'Tech Ethics' on its corporate website since June. Six community affiliates?Kakao, Kakao Mobility, Kakao Bank, Kakao Brain, Kakao Entertainment, and Kakao Pay?introduced their key technologies through seven pieces of content. The committee plans to continue publishing Tech Ethics next year as well.

Based on various activity achievements, the committee plans to continue discussions next year to ensure services are developed from a tech ethics perspective grounded in human rights management.

In the report's foreword, Kakao CEO Euntaek Hong said, "Technology can create healthy innovation when used for good, and Kakao has been proactively considering the healthiness of technology. I hope Kakao’s philosophy and practical efforts to enhance technology responsibility and transparency, as well as its will to transparently inform society about technology, are conveyed in detail."

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