Naver launches image-generating platform Lasco AI

Naver Corp., South Korea’s dominant online platform, has ventured into the image-generative artificial intelligence market, challenging its archrival Kakao Corp.

Naver’s subsidiary SNOW Corp. has launched the beta version of its image-generative AI app, dubbed Lasco AI, early this month, according to IT industry sources on Thursday.

The platform’s name originates from the Lascaux cave in Dordogne, France, famous for its animal paintings dating back to about 15,000 years B.C.

Lasco AI will be temporarily available as a channel of the global chatting platform Discord free of charge, until it soon makes an official debut on public websites.

SNOW is better known for its namesake face-filtering camera app based on augmented reality technologies. It runs the metaverse platform Zepeto as well.

Lasco AI will be able to generate five image styles such as fantasy wallpapers, game characters, animation and live action.

Its users need to log into the Lasco AI channel and then enter descriptive words for the image they want to generate.

The AI-based image generator boasts a broader range of painting styles, including folk and abstract art, than competing models.

In South Korea, comparable image-generative platforms include Kakao Brain Corp.’s Karlo and Sporky developed by startup Lion Rocket.

The image-generating AI market has been growing rapidly since Microsoft-backed OpenAI unveiled DALL-E 2 last year. It is now competing with MidJourney and Stable Diffusion.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at swlee@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article