SK Telecom said that its Aster service is scheduled to launch a closed beta in North America later this year, with a full market launch planned for 2025
Korean carrier SK Telecom unveiled ‘Aster(A*)’, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personal assistant tailored for global users, at the SK AI Summit 2024.
In a release, Aster is scheduled to launch a closed beta in North America later this year, with a full market launch planned for 2025.
Aster is designed as an ‘Agentic AI,’ which goes beyond simple Q&A or search functions by understanding users’ intentions to set goals, make plans and complete tasks on their behalf, the telco said.
SK Telecom plans to enhance Aster’s capabilities through partnerships with global search providers, LLM developers and third-party applications with the aim of establishing a comprehensive AI ecosystem for North American users.
“With Aster, users are interacting with a single app, but they’re actually tapping into an extensive AI ecosystem,” said Chung Suk-geun, head of the Global/AI Tech Business at SK Telecom.
During the summit, SK Telecom also revealed plans to expedite the carrier’s artificial intelligence initiatives by constructing what the telco calls an ‘AI Infrastructure Superhighway.’
The Korean operator said that the plan is based on a robust connection of national AI infrastructure along three core axes: AI data centers (AIDCs), a cloud-based GPU service (GPU-as-a-Service, GPUaaS) and Edge AI. Based on this strategy, the company plans to expand globally in collaboration with partners in Korea and abroad.
Also, through the AI cloud services (GPUaaS), SKT aims to enable companies to develop AI services easily and at a lower cost, without needing to purchase their own GPUs.
SK Telecom said it also plans to introduce ‘Edge AI,’ which can narrow the gap between AIDC and on-device AI, using the nationwide communication infrastructure.
Edge AI is an infrastructure that combines mobile communication networks and AI computing, offering advantages in reduced latency, enhanced security and improved privacy compared to large-scale AIDCs. Additionally, it enables large-scale AI computing, complementing the existing AI infrastructure, compared to on-device AI, the telco said.
“So far, the competition in telecommunications infrastructure has been all about connectivity, namely speed and capacity, but now the paradigm of network evolution should be changed,” said Ryu Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom. “The upcoming 6G will evolve into a next-generation AI infrastructure where communication and AI are integrated.”
SK Telecom plans to develop a comprehensive AIDC solution that combines AI semiconductors, data centers and energy solutions through collaboration with AI companies in Korea and abroad, with the aim of entering the global market.
SK Telecom is actively using AI to improve its networks and services. In August, the telco announced a complete overhaul of its artificial intelligence (AI) service, “A.” pronounced “A-DoT.”
The Korean operator had said that the revamp aims to transform the A. app into an AI personal assistant focused on enhancing daily convenience for customers.
It added that the most significant feature of this revamp is the enhancement of natural conversation experience based on a large language model (LLM) and the strengthening of daily management functions through multi-agents.
Last year, SK Telecom had announced its ambition to become a global artificial intelligence company by strengthening its own AI competitiveness and cooperating with partners globally.
