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Kakao's exhibition booth at the "2026 Public AI Expo." / Courtesy of Kakao

Kakao is pushing to expand its artificial intelligence services within the public sector. Armed with "AI National Assistant"—a public service platform built on the KakaoTalk framework—the company aims to enhance the accessibility of administrative services and accelerate the construction of an AI service ecosystem closely integrated with citizens' daily lives.

The company announced that it will participate in the "2026 Public AI Industrial Expo," held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, from June 23 to 24, to showcase an array of AI services centered around its integrated AI brand, "Kanana."

Hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the expo introduces cutting-edge AI technologies and services tailored for the public sector. Under the theme "A Day with Kanana," Kakao is operating an interactive exhibition booth.

The primary highlight of the exhibition is the "AI National Assistant," developed in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Operating directly within the KakaoTalk application, the service enables users to handle public facility reservations as well as the issuance and submission of digital certificates. The platform recently incorporated voice recognition and synthesis features to further enhance user convenience.

The on-site interactive zone is structured to allow visitors to personally experience the entire pipeline of public administrative workflows, from booking a public facility to issuing certificates, submitting them to relevant agencies, and storing them within a digital wallet. Through this initiative, Kakao plans to drastically simplify the procedures for utilizing public services and bridge the digital divide.

Kakao is also utilizing the exhibition to unveil its strategic blueprint for agentic AI. Within the "Kanana in KakaoTalk" zone, the company is introducing features that analyze the context of KakaoTalk conversations to summarize key information or proactively recommend necessary content. Alongside these features, text and call summarization capabilities are being demonstrated alongside "Kakao Tools," a suite that connects various native Kakao services.

To ensure AI safety and alignment, Kakao is debuting its proprietary AI guardrail model, "Kanana Safeguard." Engineered to detect harmful content and malicious inputs, this model is specifically optimized for Korean-language environments.

Furthermore, the company is running interactive programs featuring its in-house developed "Kanana" LLM lineup and its image generation model, "Kanana Collage."

"This event serves as a showcase for how Kakao's agentic AI technology can bring practical convenience to citizens' daily routines within the public sphere," a Kakao official stated. "Moving forward, we plan to continuously expand our collaborations with public services, starting with the AI National Assistant."

                                                                                                           Lee Seo-yeon