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Kakao's artificial intelligence (AI) service 'Kanana' has been released to the public in the form of a pilot test. Kanana positions itself as both an 'AI mate (friend)' for individual users and a 'group AI' that assists multiple users. On May 12, we tried running the Kanana application (app) ourselves. Kanana does not run within KakaoTalk; users need to download a new app to use it. Even KakaoTalk users must sign up separately for Kanana. Conversations on Kanana are only possible between Kanana members.

The main screen displayed the chat rooms in which the user was participating. Below that, there were features to create AI group chat rooms based on purposes such as socializing, travel planning, self-development, and investment. For those who have only used AI chatbots like ChatGPT, where you continue conversations through a single input box, this screen felt both unfamiliar and familiar. It was unfamiliar in that it was a type of AI chatbot not previously used, but convenient to view because it resembled the chat windows of KakaoTalk.

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To use the AI chatbot in a chat room, users summon the AI mate 'Kana' during conversations. By inviting conversation partners and chatting as you would on KakaoTalk, you can call Kana at any time for assistance. Kana provides relevant information based on the conversations exchanged between users in the chat room. It is also possible to summon Kana in a chat room where only the user is present.

For example, when planning a summer vacation, a chat room was created and messages such as 'Planning to go on summer vacation around August 15, which is the Liberation Day holiday,' and 'Prefer healing at a resort with an ocean view rather than a busy city,' were entered to summon Kana. When asked, 'Please recommend a summer vacation spot,' Kana remembered the previous conversation and recommended major tourist destinations with ocean views. At the end of the location recommendations, Kana also provided the sources of the resort introduction articles cited by the AI. Kana was able to handle everything at once, from finding flight prices and accommodation information for the vacation to planning the travel itinerary.

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Screenshot of using Kanana

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It was also possible to provide information based on conversations with other users. In a group chat room, after discussing plans to watch a movie in Hongdae with another user and requesting, 'Recommend a movie theater near the meeting place,' Kana selected and recommended movie theaters in the Hongdae area. When asked to 'recommend a place to have dinner near the movie theater,' Kana automatically understood the previous conversation and suggested a pasta specialty restaurant near the theater. The responses even included summaries of restaurant reviews posted on KakaoMap.

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In addition to using AI services in chat rooms, users can also get help from a general AI chatbot. This is done through 'Nana,' located at the top of the Kanana main screen. By clicking on Nana in the Kanana app main screen, users can have direct conversations, and Nana specializes in providing more personalized answers by remembering user information. Like an AI assistant, Nana can register events on the calendar or set reminders for specific times. Nana can also be secretly summoned in group chat rooms. By pressing the plus button and then the 'whisper' button, users can call Nana, and conversations with Nana are not shared with other chat participants. The whisper feature also allows Nana to summarize the group chat conversation.

Users can also choose the 'personality' of Kana and Nana. In the window for setting conversation guidelines with Nana, users could select tones such as 'like an expert,' 'like a counselor,' or 'like a friend.' Kana's tone could also be selected during the process of creating a group chat room. For example, in a group chat for planning a trip, users could choose a 'planner-like' tone to match the purpose.

Since this is still a pilot service, there were issues such as providing inaccurate information or failing to suggest the latest information. For example, when asked to 'recommend a good movie to watch' while booking movie tickets, Kana recommended past films that were no longer showing in theaters. Even when the question was changed to 'recommend the latest action movies,' movies that had already finished screening were recommended. When real-time information was requested, such as 'tell me what movies are currently showing at A Theater,' Kana responded with 'unable to find movie information.'

The Kanana service uses both OpenAI's language model and a language model developed by Kakao. Depending on the user's request, the appropriate model is automatically selected and used. Kakao is accepting Kanana sign-ups on a first-come, first-served basis for the pilot test, collecting user feedback, and plans to officially launch the service once it reaches a certain level of quality.