Calls open until October 21, aiming to develop new services and devices compatible with 'Nugu'.
Embarking on joint R&D worth 200 million won... Planning to make it one of the flagship platform businesses through collaboration.

SK Telecom (CEO and President Jang Dong-hyun) announced on the 12th that it will hold an idea contest on the theme of developing new services and devices compatible with its artificial intelligence service NUGU.

"Nugu," unveiled on August 31, is SK Telecom's voice-recognition-based artificial intelligence service whose name signifies its ability to become anyone a customer desires, such as family, friends, lovers, or personal assistants. By speaking to the dedicated device as if having a conversation, it utilizes advanced voice recognition technology to understand and fulfill the customer's requests. Through Nugu, customers can receive information such as weather and schedules, or listen to music recommended to them. It is also possible to control home appliances such as lighting and TVs.

This competition is divided into service development and device development categories. SK Telecom plans to select three teams and engage in joint research and development worth a total of 200 million won.

The application period is until Friday, October 21, and applications can be submitted on the online homepage of 'T Developers' (https://developers.sktelecom.com), a mutual cooperation space for developers. The first round of document screening will be conducted until October 25 (Tue), and teams that pass the screening will proceed to the second round of presentation evaluation. The final evaluation and awards ceremony will be held on November 2 (Wed).

Based on its experience leading the evolution of platform services such as 'T Map' and 'T Phone', SK Telecom plans to develop 'Nugu', which was launched this time, into one of its representative platform businesses through openness and collaboration.

SK Telecom is drawing a big picture to create mutual synergy with third parties by utilizing various programs in the areas of technology collaboration and shared growth that it operates. SK Telecom plans to publicly disclose the core API (Application Programming Interface) of 'Nugu' in the first half of next year and expand the foundation for collaboration with external developers, such as 'T Developers,' to publicly promote the development of linked services for 'Nugu.'

'Nugu' is a growth-oriented artificial intelligence service. 'Nugu' is a service that combines voice recognition technology with deep learning, a core AI technology, and evolves on its own as data accumulates. As research and development exchanges with third parties increase, the service is expected to become more sophisticated and voice recognition rates to gradually improve.

Park Myung-soon, Head of SK Telecom’s Future Technology Institute, stated, “SK Telecom has been focusing on developing foundational technologies such as artificial intelligence, voice recognition, and language understanding since 2012,” adding, “We will build a mutually beneficial ecosystem through active cooperation with various startups, ventures, and experts in the field of artificial intelligence and take the lead in revitalizing the domestic AI industry.”