Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
Preparing AI Story-Generating Chat 'byUs' More Focus on Story Expansion Than 2024's 'Character Chat' Aiming for Virtuous Cycle of Deeper Engagement, More Webtoon Consumption "Differentiated From Copyright, Explicit-Content Issues of Other AI Chats"
Naver Webtoon is making a full-scale entry into the AI character chat market, which is growing among teenagers and people in their 20s. The company plans to launch a service that lets users adapt and expand existing webtoon stories through conversations with a chatbot. Because AI character chat has stirred controversy over excessive explicit content and potential copyright violations, Naver Webtoon plans to provide a safe service limited to webtoon intellectual property (IP) that has received original creators' consent.
Naver Webtoon to Soon Launch AI Chat Service Focused on 'Story Expansion'
Naver Webtoon will launch a story-generating AI chatbot service, according to the information technology (IT) industry Tuesday. The service name 'byUs' is the leading candidate, and the service is expected to be unveiled this month or next at the earliest.
Naver Webtoon previously launched 'Character Chat,' which allows users to chat with webtoon characters, in 2024. While Character Chat is a service mainly for everyday conversations with characters in webtoons, the chatbot to be unveiled this time differs in that users develop new stories by conversing with the chatbot based on the worldview of the original webtoon. The narrative tailored to the conversation between the chatbot and the user is expected to be provided in text form.
'Conversations With Webtoon Characters' — Character Chat Confirmed Effect of Increasing Original Consumption
Naver Webtoon has already confirmed the effect of interactive conversational content through Character Chat. After its 2024 launch, Character Chat surpassed a cumulative 6 million domestic users through January this year. Users in their teens and 20s account for 78% of total users.
Character Chat also led to increased consumption of original works. According to Naver Webtoon's analysis of users of the Seol Hyo-rim Character Chat from the webtoon 'Star Instinct,' the number of original episodes viewed by users during the week after the chatbot's launch (Jan. 13-19, 2025) increased by 97% compared with the week before launch (Jan. 6-12, 2025). Payment amounts rose 44%. Having confirmed a virtuous cycle in which users' immersion in works grows and webtoon consumption also increases, Naver Webtoon launched the Character Chat service on its Japanese service 'Line Manga' in February this year.
Similar Service 'Zeta' Logs More Usage Time Than ChatGPT as Market Grows
The market itself is also growing. The growth of 'Zeta,' an AI chat service created by AI startup Scatter Lab, illustrates this well. Zeta is a service that lets users converse with AI characters based on worldviews and situations they set. It offers various settings within categories such as romance fantasy, school stories, martial arts, mystery, and BL (boys' love). According to Mobile Index, Zeta's monthly active users (MAU) reached 1.4 million as of May this year. That is an 89.8% increase from 737,727 in the same month a year earlier.
Not only are user numbers high, but engagement was also shown to be strong. In a report released by WiseApp·Retail in March this year, Zeta beat ChatGPT to become "the AI chatbot service used for the longest time in Korea." As of February, domestic smartphone users' Zeta usage time was 113.41 million hours, more than double that of second-place ChatGPT (50.47 million hours). Third place went to Crack (9.88 million hours) by Wrtn Technologies, a service similar to Zeta.
Naver Webtoon: "Only Works With Original Creators' Consent" — Differentiating on 'Safety'
Naver Webtoon aims to find its differentiation in copyright compliance and safety. This is because there are constant criticisms that AI story chat uses original works without authorization or generates explicit conversations that negatively affect adolescents. In fact, in the United States in 2024, a 14-year-old boy took his own life after having sexual conversations with a chatbot from 'Character.AI,' the originator of AI chat, causing a stir. Character.AI eventually blocked chats for users under 18 last year.
"It will be based only on official IP that has received the original creators' approval," a Naver Webtoon official said. "We will provide a safe chat experience without undermining the appeal of the original work." When developing its similar predecessor Character Chat, Naver Webtoon also went through a process to evaluate the AI model to ensure it was not biased. The chat's safety was inspected through some 1,400 questions, and the AI story chatbot being launched this time is also undergoing similar safety inspections.
Original reporting by Kim Tae-young for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreign sources are based on Korean-language reports and may not reflect exact original wording.
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