Preparing AI technology for voice authentication payments

"We will achieve 1 million Giga Genie subscribers in the first half of this year and 1.5 million by year-end, leading the era of artificial intelligence (AI) democratization."

KT announced plans to strengthen content such as kids and education for its AI speaker 'Giga Genie' and expand service areas from homes to automobiles and hotels.

Kim Chae-hee, head of the AI Business Division, stated, "As global players enter the market, this year will see fierce competition in the AI speaker market in earnest." He explained, "Consumers no longer purchase speakers for simple reasons like novelty or aesthetics. They make judgments based on voice recognition quality and provided AI services. We will ensure consumers experience clear utility value across service aspects, device aspects, and platform aspects."

First, KT is strengthening educational content through 'Story Sound,' an AI fairy tale service, and 'audiobooks.' Story Sound is a service that combines KT's AI technology with Daekyo's educational content to deliver fairy tales more vividly. For example, when a parent reads a fairy tale to their child saying "the frog sang," Giga Genie recognizes words in the fairy tale book and plays frog croaking sounds. Story Sound, which currently provides 15 fairy tale books, can be used not only on the speaker but also through mobile apps.

Audiobooks are composed of content from diverse fields including original works, folk tales, history, and science. When you say the title of the book you want, Giga Genie reads it to you through the speaker. Currently providing about 100 titles of content, KT plans to expand to 600 audiobook titles and 300 TV fairy tales by year-end.

KT is also introducing 'I Am Tiny Sour,' an augmented reality (AR) content featuring 'Dinosaur Mecacard' as its theme. The dinosaur in the TV follows the child's facial expressions and movements in real-time. Additionally, through partnerships with Pagoda and Yanadoo, KT provides daily English conversation services.

To expand its AI platform, KT is preparing a 'connected car' service in partnership with Hyundai Motor that allows users to control automobiles using Giga Genie at home or in the office. This service enables voice-activated engine start, air conditioning activation, emergency light control, and more. In the future, it plans to support home IoT devices that control house lights from the car, with connected car services scheduled for launch by year-end.

Additionally, KT will launch an 'AI Concierge' service for hotel guests in June this year. Based on AI, it provides hotel information, room services, IoT control, and multilingual services. It can be used not only through voice but also via a hotel-specific Giga Genie terminal equipped with a touch screen. English will be supported initially, with plans to expand to Chinese and Japanese in the future.

Giga Genie's proprietary AI technology is also evolving. KT is preparing remote voice biometric authentication (FIDO) technology that processes authentication needed for e-commerce payments and similar transactions through voice. Baek Gyou-tae, head of the Service Research Institute, said, "We are currently undergoing certification from the Financial Supervisory Service. Once certified, we will provide voice payment services for shopping and online video services."

Additionally, KT plans to apply P-TTS (Personalized Text-to-Speech) technology, which can synthesize voice using a specific person's voice characteristics. To build an AI ecosystem, KT will release the "AI Makers Kit," a terminal manufacturing kit that enables voice recognition, in the first half of the year. This kit supports developers in easily manufacturing AI terminals, and voice recognition can be added to existing products. By the end of May, KT plans to open the 'Cloud AI API,' which provides AI services in cloud form. As a result, KT's AI technology can be freely applied to other terminals.

Kim Chae-hee, Senior Executive, stated, "While there was significant interest in AI, the role of AI in daily life has been limited." He added, "We will continuously strive to strengthen content such as kids and education, and expand areas to automobiles and beyond to provide AI services that are truly necessary in people's daily lives."