SK Telecom Conducts Major Upgrade for AI "Nugu"
Significantly added new features such as destination travel time, 300,000-headword Wiki search, and radio.

SK Telecom announced that its voice recognition-based artificial intelligence service 'NUGU' will provide differentiated new services to customers through a large-scale upgrade on the 14th.

With this "Nugu" upgrade, new services such as T Map traffic information, Wikipedia voice search, radio, and content specialized for children have been added, while existing features like pizza and chicken delivery, weather information, and dedicated apps have also become more convenient.

First, "Nugu" provides information on the travel time and estimated arrival time when traveling to a destination by car using T Map's fast route guidance information. For example, if you say, "How long does it take to get to work? When will I arrive?", "Nugu" immediately replies, "It takes 35 minutes (to work)," or "I am expected to arrive at 2:30 PM." * You can use the service after pre-entering information for up to 5 destinations, such as work, school, academy, kindergarten, and daycare, into the 'Nugu' app.


In addition, 'Nugu' has become capable of providing simple responses to approximately 300,000 entries in the online encyclopedia 'Wikipedia Korean Edition' (ko.wikipedia.org). For example, if you say, “Find out about ‘Barapasaurus’ on Wikipedia,” ‘Who’ replies, “‘Barapasaurus’ is a large, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur that lived in present-day central India during the Early Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era.”

SK Telecom announced that after a pilot operation of Wikipedia search, it plans to upgrade it into a 'knowledge search service' that provides detailed information via voice. In addition, starting from the 14th, customers can listen to 7 FM radio channels through 'Nugu' or access approximately 4,200 pieces of child-specific content linked to the music service MelOn, including fairy tales, children's songs, lullabies, and prenatal music.

Differentiated features such as IPTV integration, public transportation guidance, and voice commerce are planned to be included in the future.

In addition, SK Telecom has significantly improved existing features by reflecting user requests. For example, the weather information function has been enhanced to provide detailed information, such as "current weather" and "ultrafine dust," in addition to today's, tomorrow's, and weekly forecasts.

In addition, customers can directly set their menu when requesting pizza or chicken delivery, and receive recommendations for new or preferred menu items from "Nugu." The dedicated smartphone app has also been intuitively improved to allow for more convenient use of "Nugu's" rapidly expanding features.

The upgrade details will be automatically reflected on 'Nugu' devices starting from the 14th. As a strength of 'Nugu' being cloud-based, there is no need to replace the device or perform any separate operations for this upgrade. There are also no costs associated with the upgrade.

SK Telecom announced that it will continue to expand its services even after this major upgrade. As early as the end of this month, it will add features such as voice channel switching through the integration of 'Nugu' and B tv (IPTV). In early next year, it plans to upgrade public transportation information, travel time guidance, and voice commerce functions.

SK Telecom announced that the artificial intelligence and voice recognition capabilities of 'Nugu' have also significantly improved since its launch last September through continuous upgrades. Currently, 'Nugu' is available for purchase at online malls such as T World Direct, 11st, and WeMakePrice, as well as at major SK Telecom dealerships nationwide and offline stores such as Lotte Hi-Mart.

Park Il-hwan, Head of Device Support at SK Telecom, stated, “Thanks to customers who suggested various opinions, we were able to carry out a large-scale upgrade including various new features just three months after the launch of ‘Nugu’,” adding, “We will expand integration not only with internal services but also with external services.”