Owol Dongju SKT-Kakao… The reason for the declaration of initial cooperation for’AI·social contribution·patent’

‘Wol-Dong-ju Oh (吳越同舟, a word that compares unity because of the understanding between people in hostile relations)’. It is a good expression of the recent relationship between SK Telecom and Kakao. The two companies are competing in fierce areas such as mobility (mobile service), online video service (OTT), music platform, and private certificate market. On the one hand, it is a’blood alliance’ relationship that exchanged 300 billion won worth of shares. On the 14th, SK Telecom and Kakao announced that they will share technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), ESG, and intellectual property rights of both companies and open them to SMEs and startups. ESG (environment, society, governance) refers to a management strategy that emphasizes environmental and social values.

The two companies plan to jointly develop AI technology and use it with each other, and disclose related technology to academia and start-ups. To this end, the two companies will invest and develop intensively in all areas, including infrastructure, data, and language models, starting this year. In particular, AI learning data in the form of text, voice, and images are shared and actively used for development.

In addition, the two companies plan to support ESG activities for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) SMEs and startups by creating an ESG fund. To this end, the direction of managing the fund through Kakao Ventures is also being reviewed.

Finally, the intellectual property rights (patents, etc.) owned by each company are shared and open to SMEs and ventures for the public benefit. It plans to refrain from disputes on intellectual property rights between the two companies as much as possible and establish a joint intellectual property pool for future businesses such as AI, platform, and media. In addition, opportunities for free use of core technologies and service assets of the two companies will be expanded to SMEs and ventures.

The two companies previously exchanged 300 billion won worth of shares and entered into a strategic partnership in 2019. Since then, they have cooperated through the’Synergy Council’ attended by the representative executives of each company. The first achievement is the’AI Research and Development Council’ between SK Telecom, Kakao and Samsung Electronics, which was formed in December of last year. The three companies plan to release AI overcoming the pandemic with the aim of the first half of this year. Pandemic Overcoming AI is a solution that allows AI to identify the risk of Corona 19 at the place where the user is located and recommend social distancing or guide a detour route.

The background of the two competing companies working together on joint technology development and social contribution reflects the usual philosophy of the top decision makers. SK Telecom CEO Park Jeong-ho said at the International Home Appliances Show (CES2020) held in Las Vegas in January last year, “In the situation that global leaders such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple (GAFA) are also collaborating, if domestic companies do not combine their capabilities, He said, “It is the plate that we will be users, not players,” he said. “In order for Korean companies to have a shield against global companies,’super cooperation’ is urgent.

Bum-soo Kim, Chairman of Kakao’s Board of Directors, has recently put ESG as the hottest topic in corporate management. Chairman Kim established the ESG Committee under the Board of Directors in January of this year and served as the chairman. Subsequently, in February, he announced a donation of half of his fortune (estimated 5 trillion won), saying, “I made a pledge to donate to solve social problems.”

In this context, the two companies emphasized solving social problems as the goal of this cooperation. Minsu Yeo, co-CEO of Kakao, said, “We will make efforts to contribute to industrial development and solve environmental and social problems with ICT technology.” Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom’s MNO business, said, “We will secure the world’s best AI technology and use the results to solve social difficulties.”
Reporter Kim Kyung-jin [email protected]