LOEN developed voice recognition service
To be equipped to `No.1 Music App` Melon
Kakao “expects its service interlocked growth
during Melon market boom"

#Manager Kim is not feeling good today. He has been criticized when he proposed his report, which he made staying three nights up, in the meeting. He speaks to the music app in a night when he needs to change his mood. He says, “I am sad. Make me happy.” And ‘Good job on another day’ of Rooftop Moonlight comes out. Manager Kim feels a bit better thanks to AI music app.

A mobile music app with an AI secretary function will be introduced in the second half of this year. When the user connects to the melon app and presses the voice recognition button and says, "Please play the song of IU", it is the way to play the music right away. The app responds to commands such as `Let`s sing a song that matches the weather today.`

According to industry sources on May 30, LOEN Entertainment is developing AI sound service based on voice recognition through its own AI Task Force (TF) while music services are emerging as core content for the AI era. The technology is installed in the music app melon which is the number one in the Korean (based on the number of users) market.

The company has recently quietly conducted a closed test (CBT) for employees with the service name `Melon Voice Recognition Secretary`. This service, which is being developed by the in-house AI Task Force (TF) this year, utilizing the voice recognition technology of Kakao, will function as a kind of artificial intelligence DJ & secretary. TF aims to commercialize it in the second half of this year.

According to LOEN, CBT has the function of △playing music on voice commands, △the function of recommending the contents of music by grasping what the user wants and △the function of reflecting the user`s reaction (`like`, `dislike`, etc.).

LOEN Entertainment, which has been playing a key role in the profits for Kakao, is expected to play a key role in AI business of Kakao. An industry expert said, "Melon AI services will be a big weapon in aggressively expanding alliances with other industries in the AI market."

Especially, LOEN will transform itself into a company that takes a lead in alliances with a broader range of companies and industries at the level of supplying sound source services to partners with AI technology. Currently, melon is providing sound sources for SKT`s voice recognition AI speaker `Nugu` `as artificial intelligence service.

Meanwhile, Kakao is currently taking over the AI issue for its competitor, Naver, and is driving the related field later. Naver is already evolving its AI technology with the launch of the ‘Clova’, a versatile AI app equipped with a voice control system. Clova replies with a female voice when the user speaks. Voice search, conversation dialogue, directions, schedule management, music recommendation and foreign language translation can be provided by the app. It will launch AI speakers in the third quarter of this year.

Kakao is currently under the process of conducting so called `voice project` that bundles ChatBot and AI speakers. The company is expected to launch a voice-activated app and AI speaker in the second half. An industry expert said, "Kakao will be confident that it will be able to work on linking AI to its services such as KakaoTalk, Daum news, Kakao taxi and navigation if AI-based melon app of LOEN gets a good response from the market."

On the other hand, LOEN, which was acquired by Kakao last year, is in charge of one-quarter of consolidated sales of Kakao. Kakao sales accounted for KRW 110.3 billion in music content sales among KRW 443.8 billion in the first quarter of this year.

By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@


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