Three families under one roof: ‘AI for All'—can it be coordinated?

Baek Young-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, speaks during the 'AI for All Project Business Roundtable' held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Provided by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Yonhap News Under the single signboard of 'AI for All,' three different AI assistants are gearing up for their debut.Since SK Telecom, Kakao, and KT are each developing their own versions, the immediate task is to organize how and where they will be used so users don't get confused. The government and the three consortia are putting their heads together on how to establish a shared name and access point.According to the Ministry of Science and ICT and others on the 8th, the government and the three consortia have launched a working-level council to coordinate detailed matters needed for the launch. With the selection of operators complete, they began working-level talks without waiting for the official agreement.Gong Jin-ho, Director of AI Policy Planning at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said in a phone call with CBS NoCut News, 'We are meeting frequently with the companies or talking by phone to flesh out discussions on several key issues.' The official agreement is expected to be signed around the middle of this month.The AI assistants each consortium is preparing differ from the ground up in how they are used. SK Telecom will allow people who are not familiar with apps or the web to use the service via phone calls and text messages. Kakao plans to connect everything from information search to applications, reservations, and payments through familiar channels such as KakaoTalk.KT will link everyday services such as education, shopping, and finance into a single AI assistant based on real-time search. The idea is to let users access it in the same way, even if the channel differs—whether app, web, or IPTV.A joint brand and shared access point are being discussed as the link tying the three services together. Reporting indicates that the government and each consortium are in talks on using an existing joint brand or creating a new one so that users can jump to each service from a single place.For now, even if a joint brand is used, it is unlikely that subscriptions will be fully unified. Since the platforms differ, the leading scenario is that users will sign up for each service separately. A plan to decide the service names and usage methods through a public contest is also under review.While these discussions are underway, the test schedules for the individual services are drawing near. Beta services are expected to begin as early as the end of this month.KT is targeting the end of this month to early next month, SK Telecom after the Chuseok holiday, and Kakao around the middle of next month. Initially, they aim to conduct closed tests focused on safety and personal data protection, with a goal of full public release in December.Specific schedules and usage methods have yet to be finalized. A KT official said that the company is working with consortium partners to flesh out service development and integration, adding, 'We will provide final guidance on access methods when the beta service opens.'Another challenge is that they must cooperate and compete at the same time.From next year, the government is considering varying GPU support according to actual usage volume and user activity. The key issue will be how far they can keep in step on the shared name and access point while each provider races to secure its own users.