Naver to inject W5.2b for joint research on AI-based content with Univ. of Toronto

Naver CFO Kim Nam-seon (left) posed with University of Toronto International Partnerships Vice President Alex Mihailidis during a research partnership launch event held at Naver 1784 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. (Naver)

Naver said Monday it will inject 5.2 billion won ($3.6 million) over the next five years, along with Canadian social storytelling platform Wattpad which has become part of the company last year, to conduct joint research on AI-based content service platforms with the University of Toronto.

South Korean internet giant said this study would allow application of advanced, exclusive technologies to Wattpad’s content platform leading to more innovative user experience.

Naver bought Wattpad at approximately $650 million last year, seeing potential in the app’s community of more than 90 million people globally who spend over 23 billion minutes a month engaged in original stories. Since then, Naver has also newly launched Wattpad webtoon studio in the US.

Specific areas of joint study between Naver, Wattpad and the University of Toronto will be Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI), through which they will develop technology to analyze content for recommendation on similar content, as well as developing a model to measure user habits. They will also develop an intuitive, creative conversation-type interface based on AI technology.

Naver said collaboration with University of Toronto would not only expand the global AI R&D ecosystem but also attribute to the technology collaboration between South Korea and Canada.

“Naver’s mega-scale technology capacity and infrastructure in AI would create synergy with the Unversity of Toronto’s professional capacity in AI technology and the world’s largest web-based literature platform Wattpad,” said Ha Jung-woo, head of Naver’s AI Lab.

“We will create a more interactive user experience by developing a platform that can deeply understand user preferences, based on AI technology, which would then give freedom to create high-quality content,” said Ha.