Kakao計劃把KakaoTalk轉型為AI智能體平台

Kakao CEO Jeong Shina explains the company's AI services for KakaoTalk at the if(kakao)26 event on Oct. 13. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Noh Byung-seok, who oversees development of Kakao's foundation models, introduces the technical direction of the Kanana AI model. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Kakao's Kanana AI runs on-device and connects to servers when needed. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Noh Byung-seok explains how Kanana works, with context understanding central to interpreting ambiguous user commands and intentions. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Kakao plans to expand into an AI agent platform by building an AI agent ecosystem in the first half of 2027. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Companies partnering with Kakao are shown during the presentation. (Photo: THE ELEC)

Kakao announced on Oct. 13 at its if(kakao)26 event, held at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, that it is transforming KakaoTalk from a messaging app into an artificial intelligence (AI) agent platform.

The company plans to unveil Kanana Space, an AI assistant that users can call up anytime within KakaoTalk, and Canvas, a service that lets users build their own AI agents, by the end of this year. Kakao aims to expand KakaoTalk into an integrated platform connecting a range of AI agents in the first half of 2027.

At the event, Chief Executive Officer Jeong Shina said Kakao had spent the past 15 years connecting friends, colleagues, and families through KakaoTalk while bringing people together in everyday activities such as scheduling, splitting bills, gifting, and sharing content. “Now, we will use AI technology to build the next 10 years of connections,” she said.

Kanana Space is similar to Meta's AI agent, Muse. Swiping the KakaoTalk screen with two fingers brings up Ryan, Kakao's AI character. Users can ask Ryan to send messages, manage schedules, search the web, make reservations, and process payments. They can also engage in everyday conversations with the assistant.

Kakao plans to develop Kanana Space so users can operate it with simple voice commands, enabling them to place orders, send gifts, make reservations, and transfer money using their voices alone. For example, if a user mentions during a conversation that the household needs bottled water and then says, “Order bottled water,” the assistant could select a previously purchased product and apply available coupons.

Kakao began accepting advance applications on Oct. 13 and plans to start testing the service with selected users in December.

The company also unveiled Canvas, a PC-based service for building AI agents. Users describe the functions they need, and AI connects suitable tools and capabilities to create an agent. The agents can handle repetitive work or perform complex, specialized tasks. Kakao is also preparing a feature that will let users share their agents with others, with a small-scale trial slated to begin as early as this year.

Kakao plans to open a marketplace in the first half of 2027 where users can access external agents as well, offering KakaoTalk users a broad selection of agents developed by outside developers and businesses, similar to OpenAI's GPT Store.

Kakao said during its second-quarter earnings announcement that it would develop agentic AI into a new pillar of growth and monetization. The company's Talk Biz commerce transaction volume reached 2.7 trillion won in the second quarter. Commerce revenue totaled 243.2 billion won during the same period, while overall Talk Biz revenue reached 643.2 billion won.

Jeong emphasized that Kakao would build on its existing connections by adding intelligence that understands each individual and adapts to their needs, enabling everyone to experience AI in the familiar settings of everyday life.