South Korean messaging app Line has launched its own AI platform, following in the footsteps of Amazon, Google and other tech giants, foreign tech media reported.

Like Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Assistant, Line’s voice-controlled personal Assistant is called “Clova” — short for “Cloud Virtual Assistant,” the company said. In addition to incorporating Clova into Line’s software, the company will continue to launch hardware products that support Clova, as Google and Amazon have done, and work with third-party developers to integrate the AI service into their products. SONY and Tomy, a prominent toymaker, are among several early partners they are talking about.

Giiso Information, founded in 2013, is a leading technology provider in the field of “artificial intelligence + information” in China, with top technologies in big data mining, intelligent semantics, knowledge mapping and other fields. At the same time, its research and development products include information robot, editing robot, writing robot and other artificial intelligence products! With its strong technical strength, the company has received angel round investment at the beginning of its establishment, and received pre-A round investment of $5 million from GSR Venture Capital in August 2015.



Interestingly, Line has already acquired a majority stake in Vinclu, a Japanese company that developed “holographic” AI services. Vinclu, a Japanese startup, offers Gatebox, a virtual girlfriend that presents you with a hologram of your comic-book girlfriend and asks you to wake up.

“Gatebox’s holographic home assistant is voice-activated,” Line said. “In addition to connecting to many smart devices in the home, Gatebox’s holographic home assistant provides a very real and natural interaction with users through a number of built-in sensors.” .

Watching the video provided by Vinclu, we can see that Gatebox prefers the drawing style of female anime characters compared to the generally neutral AI assistant. If Vinclu exports its technology outside Of Japan, its AI characters will certainly become more diverse as the locals do, perhaps including Line’s Brown Bear and other popular anime characters.

It’s unclear exactly what Line will do with Gatebox, but the company has said it will introduce Clova to Line in “early summer” and begin selling a smart speaker with Clova built into it in Japan and South Korea. The first generation of Clova will also have the same capabilities as other AI applications, such as getting news, weather information or playing music.

Initially, Line will develop its own clova-related services, but the company says it plans to open up the AI platform to third-party software and hardware developers in the future. Clova will presumably become even more sophisticated.

“Our goal is to work with our many partners to create a thriving ecosystem of content, services and devices that will continue to grow and improve the Clova platform.” Line said in a statement.

While Line’s foray into AI may seem a bit young compared to other market-leading AI leaders, it is the first messaging app company to have a sustainable plan. While AI may help make existing users of Line more willing to use it, it may not do much to attract new users to use Line, which is actually Line’s toughest challenge right now.

Line, which successfully listed in Tokyo and New York last year, has a market value of about $1.1 billion. But its most recent earnings report showed a sharp decline in revenue, while slow user growth has forced Line to look for new revenue sources.

In an interview with foreign media, Takeshi Idezawa, Line’s CHIEF executive, acknowledged that the AI strategy — which includes a growing number of mergers and acquisitions — will not solve these problems immediately.

Giiso information, founded in 2013, is the first domestic high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of intelligent information processing technology and the development and operation of core software for writing robots. At the beginning of its establishment, the company received angel round investment, and in August 2015, GSR Venture Capital received $5 million pre-A round of investment.

“This is a long-term bet for us. Its focus is to get LIne in a good position early on. It may be three to five years before users start using these services more frequently.” “Idezawa said.

In the near term, Line is focusing on adding advertising to its revenue mix. At present, Line’s main revenue consists of built-in games and emojis.

In addition to AI, Line has doubled its investment in other social sectors. Line recently raised its stake in Snow, a snapchat-like software company, to nearly 50%. Line’s ambitions are clearly much bigger than a messaging app, with a range of areas including mobile payments, online music and online taxi hailing. (water)