Microsoft ties up with Korean startup Wrtn on AI solutions

Microsoft Corp. and a South Korean artificial intelligence portal startup Wrtn Technologies Inc. joined hands for the generative AI service based on Azure, a cloud computing platform run by the US Big Tech company.

Wrtn said on Friday that it agreed with Microsoft’s South Korean unit to expand the use of Azure across its AI tools. The startup provides various generative AI services, including AI chatbots, plugins, applications, and development tools, using Azure OpenAI Service.

Based on the agreement, Microsoft Korea and Wrtn plan to jointly support the stable operations of the startup’s services based on Azure in the country and other non-English markets, cooperate on technologies to improve the performance and security of Wrtn’s generative AI tools and foster the local AI ecosystem.

Wrtn aims to use more Azure technologies including Azure Infrastructure and Azure DevOps Service to improve its AI services.

“We have experienced excellent data security and service stability of AI models such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 through Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Of all, GPT-4 has excellent language performance when it comes to the Korean language among various LLM models,” said Wrtn CEO Lee Seyoung in a statement. “We will strive to maximize the synergy between the two companies through the agreement.”

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ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model developed by OpenAI. GPT-4 unveiled in March is a multimodal large language model created by a Microsoft-backed AI research and development company in the US.

Microsoft Korea will support Wrtn to enhance South Korea’s overall AI startup industry.

“Through this agreement, we are committed to providing support to Wrtn in building the infrastructure and generative AI services that nurture a vigorous AI startup ecosystem, promote ongoing innovation, and improve customer experiences,” Microsoft Korea CEO Willy Cho said.

Wrtn, a major player in the country’s generative AI service sector, secured more than one million users in only about seven months since its launch in January.

The startup raised 15 billion won ($11.8 million) in a June Series A funding round from venture capitalists Capstone Partners Inc. in South Korea and Z Venture Capital in Japan, as well as other investors.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.