Kakao Updates Kanana AI App with 5 New Assistants

Seoul, South Korea - Kakao Corp. said on Thursday that it has updated its Kanana artificial intelligence chat application, adding five topic-specific assistants and modifying the user interface.

The company said the beta service now includes assistants for tarot reading, saju fortune-telling, challenge tracking, study coaching, and insurance consultation.

The update was released approximately four months after the beta launch, according to Kakao's statement.

The application interface was reorganized into three tabs, the company said.

Users can access individual conversations in one tab, group chat lists in a second tab, and profile settings in a third tab, according to the statement.

Lee Byung-hoon, chief executive of Cheongdam Edu Concierge, collaborated on the study coaching assistant, which offers a 150-question assessment, according to Kakao.

The insurance assistant was developed with Habit Factory, an AI financial technology company, the statement said.

The update added image generation and voice conversation functions, the company said. Voice features support Korean, English, and other languages, according to the statement.

Kakao said it implemented a memory storage function and deployed a content moderation system it calls Kanana Safeguard.

Kakao announced that it will operate a baseball discussion feature during the KBO postseason, starting October 5.

The company previously tested the feature in August, according to the statement.

Kim Jong-han, identified as Kanana Performance Leader at Kakao, said the company plans to add more topic-based assistants.

The company did not provide a timeline for a commercial release of the application.