Yoo Seung-jae, CEO of Persona AI, introduces the company at the Persona AI office in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 5th. Reporter Lee Ji-min
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Persona AI is a company that has its own AI conversation engine. Like OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, it is a ‘base model’ (foundation model) company, which is an AI that is the basis for learning inputs such as text, image, and voice and generating new data. Representative Yoo explained, “Of the entire AI market, about 3% of places have source engines, and 97% are application software companies.”
Competitiveness as an AI company also comes from here. Telecommunications companies are expanding AICC business, an AI contact center, and Yoo said confidently that Persona AI is more competitive than the three telecommunications companies. This is because it has accumulated know-how since it was founded in 2017 and jumped into the AICC business before telecom companies. As of last year, sales were about 50 billion won.
Last year, KB Indemnity Insurance Counselor Speech Training Service was also supported. Due to COVID-19, it was difficult for counselors to gather and receive training, so they provided voice speech training through an app, where Persona AI's interactive AI solution was applied.
Persona AI also introduced an AI kiosk with an AI engine specialized in dialect recognition and emotion analysis. The AI kiosk, which was commercialized in partnership with DB Insurance in 2020, recognizes the customer's gender, age, and emotion. Persona AI plans to introduce AI kiosks in collaboration with automakers in the future.
CEO Yoo said that after the launch of ChatGPT, he realized the interest surrounding generative AI. The invitation to the Gwangju Metropolitan City event on the 29th of last month is an extension of that. At the event, CEO Yoo introduced the ‘AI Market’, which reproduced the Gwangju Metropolitan City Mayor Kang Ki-jeong. A total of three AIs appeared and demonstrated technology to talk to Mayor Kang Ki-jeong in real time. The first AI mayor gave work instructions to the second AI mayor, etc. This metahuman demonstration was completed with Persona AI's technology.
Persona AI plans to expand its business from AI solutions to 'embedded AI semiconductors'. The plan is to make the AI conversation engine ultra-small and lightweight and insert it on a semiconductor for use. By using this semiconductor, services using conversational AI can be used in various fields such as self-driving cars. For example, if you become drowsy while driving, it will alert you with a warning sound and automatically call 119 in case of an emergency.
Early last month, CEO Yoo attended the ‘AI Startup Conference’ hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and revealed the difficulties he experienced while expanding his business with embedded AI semiconductors. At the meeting at the time, he explained that there was a challenge in applying for government support projects by distinguishing AI and semiconductor classifications. As it is an era of convergence, it was an appeal to review convergence-type tasks so that the AI-equipped semiconductor business could also be selected as a government task. Representative Yoo said that after the meeting, employees of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups showed interest, such as visiting the Persona AI office in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
CEO Yoo said that he would properly introduce Persona AI to the market this year. It is also an opportunity that interest in generative AI has increased with ChatGPT as an opportunity. He said, “The goal is to do an IPO in Korea next year, and after that, we will go global more aggressively.” Persona AI has already made inroads into the global market through a total of three overseas companies, including a Brazilian beauty product sales company and an American mid-sized education company with an AI kiosk.
“There are many application (app) venture startups using generative AI, but we hope that foundation model companies like us will also pay attention. It may not look glamorous right away. App companies demonstrating video right in front of you are gorgeous to watch. Developing the foundation model is the result of years of investment. From 2017 until now, I made it while eating, sleeping, and living here in this office. As a result, although it takes longer, it is possible to do things like AI kiosks that others cannot. We will create unrivaled technology with three AI engines (vision (visual), voice, and natural language). I want to grow the company so that even if I die, Persona AI’s technology will continue to be used.”
Reporter Lee Ji-min aaaa3469@segye.com
