Naver to Fully Launch AI Search Tab by End of June, Investing 1 Trillion Won in Creator Ecosystem

Naver is set to fully unveil its generative AI-powered conversational search service, 'AI Tab,' by the end of June, aiming to significantly enhance its search capabilities. The service will be powered by Naver's proprietary next-generation AI model, 'HyperCLOVA X,' promising a more sophisticated and context-aware search experience for all users.

Initially launched for Naver Plus Membership subscribers in April, AI Tab has already garnered significant user interest, recording 3 million monthly active users in its first month. Kim Kwang-hyun, Naver's Chief Data and Content Officer (CDO), stated at a press conference that the company plans to expand access to all Naver users by late June or early July. AI Tab is designed to understand users' search intent and context comprehensively, delivering optimized information.

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The monthly active users of AI Tab, which was pre-released for Naver Plus Membership subscribers in April, reached 3 million in just one month, indicating a very positive user response. We plan to expand AI Tab to allow all Naver users to use the conversational AI search service around late June or early July.

Central to Naver's AI search strategy is the cultivation of a high-quality content ecosystem. The company highlighted that approximately 70% of the source content used for its AI Briefing feature, launched in March last year, originated from user-generated content platforms like blogs and cafes. To further bolster this, Naver is launching the 'Naver Mate' creator support program on June 4th. This ambitious five-year project will involve an investment of 1 trillion won to support around 3,000 creators who produce excellent content suitable for AI Briefing and AI Tab.

Selected creators will receive an official emblem and enhanced content visibility across Naver's AI services. This strategy aims to improve the quality of AI-generated answers and establish a virtuous cycle within the creator ecosystem. Kim emphasized that reducing AI 'hallucinations' is a key challenge, and leveraging rich, reliable content from Naver's ecosystem is crucial for addressing this. Naver is also accelerating the expansion of its AI search experience, with a new version of Smart Lens planned for late June, which will integrate with AI Tab to seamlessly connect image-based searches with purchasing and reservation functions.

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The biggest challenge for generative AI services is reducing the hallucination phenomenon. How much we can cite rich content produced by reliable creators within the Naver ecosystem is an important factor in solving this.