[AI Revolution](196) NHN Waplet: "Aging in Place with an AI Care Platform"

NHN's Senior Care Subsidiary

From Automatic Well-being Checks to Health Management via App

Sunyoung Hwang: "We Need a Standard for Care Data"

Sunyoung Hwang, CEO of NHN Waflet, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily on the 22nd at NHN Play Museum in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

"In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), care services must also evolve. We support 24-hour, daily-living-focused independent living for seniors through an AI-powered platform, allowing them to spend their old age in their own homes instead of nursing facilities."

Seonyoung Hwang, CEO of NHN Waflet, emphasized in an interview with The Asia Business Daily on April 22 at NHN in Sampyeong-dong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, "As Korea enters a super-aged society and both the elderly population and chronic disease patients increase, care services utilizing AI can offer solutions to the challenges of low birth rates and an aging society."

NHN Waflet is NHN’s subsidiary specializing in senior care, established in 2021. The company was founded based on CEO Hwang’s personal experiences and ideas while serving as Director of NHN’s Legal Policy Group, and Hwang now holds both positions. "Caring for my parents became a major concern for me during COVID-19," Hwang explained. "I constantly worried about the well-being of my parents, who no longer lived with me, but the reality of senior care did not improve. As the baby boomer generation is now facing the need to care for their even older parents, I realized this could explode into a significant social issue."

Recognizing the future demand for AI-driven care, NHN Waflet aims to realize "Aging in Place," allowing seniors to live healthily in their own homes, through the "Waflet AI Living Assistant" service. This service is deployed in various public initiatives, such as integrated care services and elderly medical and care integration support projects led by local governments, with business agreements signed so far with 38 local governments and organizations nationwide. In alignment with the government’s strategy for AI transformation in the care sector, the company has also applied to participate in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s "AI Smart Home" project.

The Waflet AI Living Assistant is an AI-based integrated care platform that manages not only the safety and well-being of care recipients via smartphone but also their health and emotional status. Based on smartphone sensors, even minor movements automatically trigger well-being checks, and the system is connected with professional security companies for monitoring and dispatch. It is equipped with digital healthcare features approved as medical devices by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, allowing users to measure key health indicators such as cardiovascular health, irregular heartbeat, stress, and fatigue simply by placing a finger on the rear camera of their smartphone for 15 seconds. The results are transmitted in real-time to the administrator center.

Hwang introduced, "Since November last year, we have started projects with the Korea Association of Senior Welfare Centers at 10 sites nationwide. Despite the average age of participants in this project being 77.2 years, the app usage rate reached 98%. In Gyeonggi Province's 'Always Comfortable AI Care' project, 51% of participating seniors—one in every two—used the cardiovascular health check function an average of 6.1 times per week, demonstrating a strong positive response."

Seonyoung Hwang, CEO of NHN Waffle, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily on the 22nd at NHN Play Museum in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

Hwang further noted, "Previously, local governments were hesitant to adopt such services, citing the low smartphone usage rate among seniors. However, now, even seniors with dementia instinctively bring their phones when going out, showing a significant increase in adoption and a shift in perception. The AI Living Assistant service is being introduced primarily by local governments, and its effectiveness is being proven in practice." She added that, amid a shortage of care workers, the AI Living Assistant contributes to the efficiency of care administration in local governments, and that NHN’s high-performance AI infrastructure, which can process vast amounts of health and care data, serves as a key differentiator.

Hwang expressed some regrets as a private company handling care data. "Care data from each institution is not interconnected. The biggest problem now is the lack of data standards," she pointed out, adding, "The government should provide pathways for private sector operators to collect data, and central ministries should focus on establishing standards for care data." Hwang further suggested, "Continuity is crucial in care services, but since local government projects are budgeted on a one-year basis, related projects often end before enough data can be accumulated. It would be beneficial if multi-year budgeting could be implemented, reflecting the unique characteristics of care services."

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