Jeongsina, Kakao CEO, Makes First Public Appearance with AI Model 'Honeybee'

Ministry of Science and ICT Attends 'AI High-Level Strategic Dialogue'
First Reveal of Multimodal AI Understanding Images and Text

Jeong Shin-ah, the designated CEO of Kakao, has made his first public appearance. As the CEO-designate, he unveiled Kakao's multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) model, 'Honeybee,' for the first time. Although the event was hosted by the government, this move is interpreted as an attempt to reverse the negative atmosphere surrounding Kakao by directly announcing a new growth engine amid internal and external challenges.

On the 19th, Jeong attended the '5th AI High-Level Strategic Dialogue' held by the Ministry of Science and ICT at the Federation of Korean Industries Plaza in Yeouido. This was a gathering where the government and various companies came together to lead AI innovation. This was Jeong's first appearance at a public event. Although he appeared at the '2024 New Year's Meeting of Scientists and Information and Broadcasting Personnel,' attended by President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 5th, that was a private event.

On this day, Kakao unveiled its self-developed multimodal language model open source, Honeybee, for the first time. Multimodal AI can understand both images and text. It is characterized by its ability to describe scenes contained in images or understand and respond to questions about content that mixes images and text.

Jeong's first official public disclosure of Kakao's proprietary AI technology is a significant event. It is seen as a determination to correct Kakao's business direction, which had been criticized as a 'diversified conglomerate,' and to redefine its identity as a technology company focused on AI. Kakao had planned to unveil a large-scale AI model (KoGPT 2.0) early last year, but the release was delayed. Internal and external challenges, including legal risks, affected the service's completion. In this context, Kakao is attempting to create a new breakthrough by revealing AI technology from the beginning of the year.

The open-source release of Honeybee on this day is also noteworthy. Currently, research on multimodal language models is limited due to the small number of publicly available models and the lack of detailed disclosure of training methods, making development difficult. By releasing Honeybee's source code, Kakao intends to contribute to AI advancement. This approach was chosen as part of efforts to overcome controversies over infringing on small businesses and to contribute to industrial development. Jeong said, "In the AI era, collaboration among companies and ecosystem development are important," adding, "While Kakao's AI direction is still under consideration, we are thinking about how to integrate it into users' daily lives."

Jeong is regarded as a person with deep understanding of Kakao's diverse businesses and services. He has spent a long time in the IT industry, including at Boston Consulting Group, eBay Asia-Pacific headquarters, Naver, and venture capital firm Kakao Ventures. At Kakao Ventures, he discovered IT startups in various fields such as AI, robotics, mobile platforms, and digital healthcare. When he was appointed as Kakao's next CEO last month, Jeong stated, "I will focus more on future core business areas," and "Since the time given to Kakao is limited, I will not miss the timing for change."

Jeong is concurrently serving as the head of Kakao's renewal task force (TF) and co-chair of the CA Council, the group's control tower. He is scheduled to be officially appointed as Kakao's CEO through the board of directors and shareholders' meeting in March. Since the 11th, he has been conducting relay communications with about 1,000 employees.

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