Suyeon Choi: "Connecting Society, People, and Technology with the Philosophy of Sovereign AI"... Attends Sushi Tech Tokyo

NAVER Presents 'Intelligent Social Infrastructure Model'

Soo-Yeon Choi, CEO of Naver

Naver announced on April 27 that it participated in the tech conference "Sushi Tech Tokyo 2026," held in Tokyo, Japan, where it unveiled its vision for artificial intelligence (AI) as a social infrastructure and the future of urban environments.

Now in its fourth year, Sushi Tech Tokyo is hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and is Asia's largest technology conference for sharing technology and ideas among innovative companies from around the world, all with the aim of building sustainable urban models.

During the main session, Naver CEO Soo-Yeon Choi, Naver Labs CEO Sang-Ok Seok, and Naver Cloud Executive Director Joohee Kim took the stage together and held a 45-minute discussion on the theme of "Designing AI as Social Infrastructure."

CEO Choi highlighted that Naver is a technology company with large-scale user-based services such as search and shopping, its own AI models, and cloud infrastructure, emphasizing the company's corresponding social responsibilities. Choi stated, "Naver has always built its services on the philosophy that innovation begins with technology and users," adding, "We will strengthen our service competitiveness and contribute to social progress by deeply understanding users in each country and respecting cultural and value systems through sovereign AI."

Naver introduced its AI-powered welfare check service "CareCall," which has gained attention as a solution for super-aged societies, and its on-site collaboration platform "LINE WORKS." CareCall, based on HyperCLOVA X, is being used in places like Izumo City, Japan, not only to check on the well-being of elderly residents but also as infrastructure to enhance "urban disaster resilience" in the event of emergencies. LINE WORKS, with its innovative features such as AI-OCR (optical character recognition), is supporting the digital transformation of small business owners and field workers.

Joohee Kim, Executive Director of Naver Cloud, explained, "LINE WORKS is lowering the technology barrier for field workers who are in the digital blind spot by offering features such as Roger, which replaces analog walkie-talkies, and AI-OCR, which converts handwritten documents into data."

There was also discussion on digital twin and robotics technology, which connect the physical world and AI. Sang-Ok Seok, CEO of Naver Labs, emphasized digital twins as future urban infrastructure, introducing examples of digital twin projects in Saudi Arabia and Nagai City, Japan. Seok also mentioned how technologies proven at Naver's second headquarters "1784"—the world's first robot-friendly building—are being expanded into real urban environments through global partners such as NTT East, Saudi Arabia's NHC, and New Murabba.

CEO Choi stated, "AI has evolved beyond a simple technology to become a social infrastructure that supports our daily lives. Through AI, we will deliver innovation to users, growth to small businesses, and the power to protect digital sovereignty to nations."

Meanwhile, Sushi Tech Tokyo 2026 is being held for three days from April 27 to April 29 at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, Koto Ward, Tokyo, and is expected to attract 60,000 visitors from around the world.

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