Saltlux has released the beta version of the AI app 'Pyongyang Friend', which provides various information related to North Korea.
Pyongyang Friend was born as a result of a project that Saltlux, in cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Unification, has been pursuing using artificial intelligence technology to obtain information related to North Korea and to understand the language, lifestyle, and cultural differences between the two Koreas.

Pyongyang Friends, consisting of three different characters, is voiced by actual North Korean residents, providing a realistic conversation with Pyongyang residents, down to their speech and accent.

Saltlux developed a Pyongyang friend character with a unique persona through transfer learning of the identity and style of an actual Pyongyang person.

You can talk about IT, education, society, art, and cultural life in North Korea with Rim Han-gil, a male college student at Kim Chaek University of Technology, and get information about IT, education, society, art, and cultural life in North Korea from Ri So-won, a 23-year-old Pyongyang tour guide. You can talk to Kim Pyeong-rin, a fifth grader at Pyongyang Elementary School, about the school life, play, and food culture of North Korean students.

Pyongyang Friend, currently in beta version, is a growing artificial intelligence that learns user questions and increases the accuracy of its answers. It uses the ▲natural language understanding engine ▲talkbot conversation engine ▲deep question-and-answer engine ▲voice recognition and synthesis engine ▲image recognition engine of Saltlux AI Suite products.

In particular, the latest deep learning technology was utilized for user speech understanding and Q&A. The deep learning technology 'DAN (Deep averaging network)' applied to the Talkbot conversation engine is a technology that can supplement the low response rate shown in the existing sentence meaning analysis method through keyword matching. In the case of similar types of questions, it performs meaning similarity analysis on a sentence-by-sentence basis and provides an answer even if there is no identical keyword.

Saltlux CEO Lee Kyung-il said, “Saltlux is a company leading the development of AI technology that resembles human personality based on advanced technology and accumulated data,” and added, “The Pyongyang Friend Project is a new AI app that gives the feeling of talking to a real-life friend in Pyongyang, rather than just answering simple questions. It will serve as an opportunity to increase understanding of North Korea.”

Meanwhile, to commemorate the opening of the Gyeongremal Dictionary Promotion Center, hosted by the Gyeongremal Dictionary South-North Joint Compilation Project Committee and sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Unification, Saltlux will set up and operate an interactive experience booth where visitors can experience Pyongyang Friend firsthand from November 26 to January 31.

You can meet Pyongyang Friend on the first basement floor of Seoul City Hall Citizen Hall, and you can also experience making a limited edition Pyongyang Friend figure equipped with an AI platform.