TLDR: South Korean tech giant Kakao is aggressively integrating artificial intelligence across its platform, particularly its dominant messenger app KakaoTalk, to evolve it into an AI-powered ‘super app’. This strategic overhaul involves a partnership with OpenAI, the deployment of Kakao’s own large language model, KoGPT 2.0, and significant investment in AI infrastructure, aiming to enhance user engagement and expand service offerings.
South Korean internet powerhouse Kakao is embarking on a major transformation, embedding artificial intelligence deeply into its ecosystem, with a primary focus on its ubiquitous messenger application, KakaoTalk. The company’s ambition is to evolve KakaoTalk, used by over 90% of South Korea’s 50 million population, into a comprehensive AI-powered ‘super app’ that seamlessly integrates messaging, payments, shopping, and other services.
Central to this strategy is a significant partnership forged with OpenAI in February 2025, following OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman’s visit to Seoul. Kakao CEO Shina Chung emphasized the need for a trusted partner leading in performance and innovation, stating, ‘We had the same philosophy.’ This alliance grants Kakao access to OpenAI’s advanced application programming interface (API), which will be integrated alongside Kakao’s proprietary large language model (LLM), KoGPT 2.0.
Kakao is preparing to unveil prototypes of KoGPT 2.0, designed in various parameter sizes (6 billion, 13 billion, 25 billion, and 65 billion parameters) to balance performance and cost efficiency, with a rollout expected around October. The company aims to attract over 10 million daily active users to its revamped KakaoTalk platform.
Key AI-driven services include ‘Kanana,’ Kakao’s first messenger embedded with a conversational AI agent. Kanana is designed to handle one-on-one and group chats, providing context-based responses. Beyond communication, Kakao is layering in AI-driven e-commerce and other services to upgrade Kanana and create synergies across its broader ecosystem, which already spans online banking, gaming, entertainment, and taxi-hailing (Kakao T).
Further enhancing user engagement, KakaoTalk will introduce a ’24-hour rule,’ similar to Instagram, where shared photos and videos disappear after a day. If successful, this feature could pave the way for KakaoTalk to evolve into a short-form content platform. Additionally, a chatroom recommendation service based on user interests and two-way customized services linking e-commerce platforms with KakaoTalk users are slated for launch within the year.
To support its ambitious AI initiatives, Kakao is making substantial investments in infrastructure. In mid-June, the company announced a 600-billion-won investment (approximately $450 million USD) to construct a 92,000-square-meter AI data center in Namyangju city, near Seoul. This facility, Kakao’s second major data center, is scheduled to break ground in 2026 and open by 2029.
The move positions Kakao in a global race among messenger apps to build AI super apps, with competitors like WhatsApp, WeChat, and Line also integrating AI assistants. Choi Seung-ho, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities Co., noted that ‘Bringing AI services into messenger platforms is a definite plus.’ Analysts believe AI agents can simplify navigation and boost engagement by making features easier to access, addressing a longstanding challenge of ‘clutter’ in super apps.
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Kakao’s shares have seen a surge, rising over 85% in the past two months, partly fueled by South Korea’s new president Lee Jae-myung’s promise to invest 100 trillion won in AI and support domestic internet giants. This strategic pivot towards AI is seen as a critical step for Kakao to navigate a period of sluggish sales and leapfrog its competition.
