Yongin: Kakao Corp. announced on Tuesday that the latest iteration of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence service developed by OpenAI, will be integrated into its widely-used mobile chat application, KakaoTalk, starting next month. This much-anticipated feature is set to benefit nearly 50 million users.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a revealed the development during a keynote speech at the company's annual developers conference held in Yongin, located on the southern outskirts of Seoul. "Finally, ChatGPT is coming to KakaoTalk in October," Chung stated. This move signifies the integration of a global general AI service into KakaoTalk, aiming to lower the entry barrier to AI by linking international AI services with local users.
The announcement comes after Kakao's partnership with OpenAI in February to incorporate ChatGPT into its AI offerings. This aligns with Kakao's broader strategy to join a global AI alliance amid increasing competition in the market. As a result of this collaboration, KakaoTalk users will soon be able to access the latest GPT-5 model, allowing them to share conversations, images, and text generated by the AI with friends in real-time.
Additionally, ChatGPT will be applied to other Kakao services, such as KakaoTalk Gift, Kakao Map, and KakaoTalk Reservation, through Kakao's agentic AI platform, Kakao Agent. The company plans to further expand Kakao Agent by forging partnerships with public institutions and other companies to create a comprehensive AI service ecosystem.
Oliver Jay, international managing director at OpenAI, expressed his enthusiasm at the event by highlighting the significance of this integration. "By bringing ChatGPT into KakaoTalk, an app that nearly all Koreans use every day, we are embedding world-class AI into the lives of people across the nation," Jay remarked. He further emphasized the potential for future collaborations and AI advancements across Kakao's platforms in partnership with OpenAI.