SK Telecom to launch multimodal AI to match ChatGPT

South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. will adopt natural language generation and processing capabilities for its nascent artificial intelligence service this year, which could match OpenAI's ChatGPT, the company said on Wednesday.

Last year, the mobile carrier launched its AI app "A dot," a beta version of GPT-3 published by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

The A dot recommends, or plays music or video that matchers its users’ preferences. When it comes to communication with users, however, it can only give simple answers.

The latest AI app, to be commercialized this year, will adopt multimodal deep learning systems, which not only process long-term memories but also complex information from text to voice and photos.

It will be offered on its existing A dot app. SK's goal is to upgrade the AI app to the level of ChatGPT, in collaboration with OpenAI and other language model developers.

The telecom giant expects its multimodal AI will drive its transformation into an AI powerhouse this year.

Since 2017, SK Telecom has applied its own AI technologies to GPS and voice-based services. In 2019, it open sourced an AI tool that performed Korean language services, based on Google's AI-powered BERT language model.

Since 2020, it has developed a Korean language service for OpenAI's GPT-3, the largest language model.

2022 EARNINGS

SK Telecom's operating profit in 2022 climbed 16.2% on-year to 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion), led by the fifth-generation (5G) internet and cloud data divisions.

Its 5G users amounted to 13 million, or about 60% of the country’s 5G internet subscribers.

During the conference, SK said urban air mobility (UAM) will become a key pillar for future growth. It aims to commercialize UAM services in 2025.

To that end, it has formed an exclusive partnership with Joby Aviation, a US UAM aircraft developer.

Meanwhile, SK's local rival KT Corp. last month announced that it would commercialize a super AI tool in the first half of this year.

The super AI, dubbed MI:DEUM, is based on OpenAI's GPT-3 model. It is believed to have greater, or at least equivalent processing capabilities to ChatGPT.

Write to Seung-woo Lee at swlee@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article