Surpassing 300,000 Subscribers, Introducing More Convenient Lifestyle-Integrated Services

KT announced that its artificial intelligence TV service 'GiGA Genie' has surpassed 300,000 subscribers and is unveiling even more upgraded services including intelligent conversation, finance, and shopping capabilities.

The achievement of surpassing 300,000 subscribers for the artificial intelligence TV 'GiGA Genie' comes 50 days after breaking through 200,000 subscribers at the end of August, once again proving that GiGA Genie is creating a powerful momentum in the artificial intelligence market.

Simultaneously with surpassing 300,000 subscribers, KT is introducing a more advanced GiGA Genie service across multiple dimensions, including more sophisticated voice recognition conversation technology, more convenient lifestyle-integrated services, and enhanced portals for developers.

Voice recognition conversation technology has been significantly advanced. Intelligent conversation is now possible where GiGA Genie remembers previous context in conversations with users and provides answers by interpreting pronouns. For example, with exchanges like 'What's the weather tomorrow?' → 'What about Jeju?' → 'Then tell me about next week', it remembers 'weather' and 'Jeju' from the previous sentences and provides next week's weather forecast for Jeju.

GiGA Genie goes beyond interpreting omitted content in the same topic and, in cases where questions from different fields are connected such as "Register my meeting schedule in Busan tomorrow" → "What's the weather there then?" → "What's the population of that place?", it can infer the meaning of pronouns like 'then', 'there', and 'that place' and provide accurate responses.

Additionally, interpretation of complex queries is now possible. Complex commands such as 'Turn off the TV and play quiet music' and 'Turn up the volume and play the radio' are now enabled, enhancing user convenience. These complex query interpretations have been initially applied to actions frequently used in TV and device control, music, and radio, and will be progressively expanded.

Beyond this, depending on the conversation and situation, it can provide new information or usage tips and is capable of proactive conversation that suggests services. For example, exchanges like 'Exercise is the best' → 'Stretching at home is effective, shall I search for it on the web for you?' are now possible. Also, depending on the flow of conversation, it waits for the user's response without requiring an additional wake word, and performs proactive conversation such as requesting confirmation of necessary information through questions when needed.

When a service needed by the user can be predicted based on usage history, proactive conversation will also be introduced where this is conveyed through the Genie character on the screen.

Voice Identification Enabling Finance and Home Shopping Services

KT has added voice identification functionality to GiGA Genie, providing services such as account inquiry through user identification and fund transfers by linking with existing financial institutions' mobile authentication.

Currently, Woori Bank enables account inquiry, financial calendar provision, and KB Bank enables balance inquiry and fund transfer services, with plans to progressively expand. This service requires advance registration of voice and account number, service usage agreement, and application.

GiGA Genie has enhanced user convenience by enabling voice-based convenient search of all menus on the initial home screen, and adding features such as news, utterance guides, and voice registration. Additionally, VOD voice search functionality has been enhanced to enable faster navigation to desired menus from the Olleh TV menu. When users mention both the Olleh TV category name and menu name, they can conveniently navigate, and jump functionality during program guide navigation and VOD viewing has also been added.

Furthermore, voice-based interactive home shopping service has been introduced. The home shopping channel 'K-Shopping' enables immediate ordering by voice, connection to consultants, product search, product recommendations, and preview of the next product, with plans to continuously expand to other home shopping companies. For example, when users say 'Place the order for me', a URL for the product page currently being viewed is provided to the registered smartphone.

KT has added approximately 50 types of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including speaker verification OTV consolidated payment, video recognition, and backend management to existing service Software Development Kits (SDKs) to enable affiliated corporations, general corporations, partner companies, and individual developers to easily develop and utilize them.

Along with this, KT plans to further accelerate AI ecosystem development by unveiling three types of 'GiGA Genie AI Kits': 'Dialog kit' which enables affiliated partners and developers to implement and apply desired conversation services to GiGA Genie, 'Voice kit' which includes Android/iOS speech recognition libraries and enhanced speech recognition vocabulary.

Lee Pil-jae, Executive Vice President and Head of KT's GiGA Genie Business Division, stated, "The ability to understand complex queries and interpret context and pronouns from previous sentences means that GiGA Genie, which was born this year, has grown one step further like a human," and expressed confidence, saying, "Through continuous development of conversation technology and collaboration and partnerships with various partner companies, GiGA Genie will continue to advance along with the expansion of the AI ecosystem."