kakao

SK Telecom’s AI service will handle restaurant bookings and issue 83 types of certificates.

Kakao shares fell 11% to 33,850 won (US$24) by after the announcement.

For the April to June period, operating profit rose 49% year on year to 277 billion won (US$194 million).

The companies said they will review the feasibility of won-pegged digital assets and tokenized financial services.

The brokerage still expected Kakao’s second-quarter operating profit to rise 18% year on year to 231.1 billion won (US$155 million).

Kakao said in its first-quarter 2026 earnings call that ChatGPT for Kakao had reached 8 million users, but usage time per user was short.

The move comes as Google and Apple push to transform voice assistants into AI agents capable of handling multistep tasks across apps and devices.

Union at Samsung, Hyundai and LG Plus are also seeking profit-linked bonuses.

Naver’s commerce growth and Kakao’s TalkBiz ads drive stronger Q1 revenue and profit.

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