SK Telecom initially introduced its AI agent at the SK AI Summit in Seoul last November
Korean carrier SK Telecom announced plans to release a beta version of its AI-powered personal agent, dubbed “Aster,” targeting North American users in March 2025.
“Aster goes beyond traditional AI services by acting as a proactive life-management assistant, capable of handling essential daily tasks,” said Chung Suk-geun, head of SK Telecom’s Global Personal AI Agent Business Division, during a press briefing at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
The Asian telecom provider initially introduced the AI agent at the SK AI Summit in Seoul last November, but it officially began recruiting beta testers at CES, with a broader U.S. launch set for later in the year.
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.
The AI agent, built on generative AI technology, integrates conversational search through a collaboration with Perplexity, a next-generation AI search platform. Aster focuses on life management, offering users personalized planning, execution, reminders, and advice, according to the telco.
“Aster’s ability to find solutions through user-agent interactions sets it apart from other AI services,” said an SK Telecom official. “The service simplifies decision-making and enhances productivity by guiding users step-by-step.”
Looking ahead, SK Telecom plans to deepen collaboration with third-party AI services to expand Aster’s capabilities, including further integration with Perplexity’s conversational search technology. Additional global rollouts are planned for next year, the telco said.
The telco’s CEO Ryu Young-sang emphasized that 2025 will be a year of action, with the company reorganized to streamline execution and enhance its strengths in communications and AI. SK Telecom has restructured into seven business divisions aimed at bolstering its telecommunications and AI capabilities, supported by a shared infrastructure group and staff functions.
SK Telecom also merged its AI R&D efforts to strengthen AI and digital transformation (AT/DT) capabilities. The AI R&D Center will support the development of advanced AI technologies like digital twins and AI factories, while the AT/DT Center integrates transformation initiatives across SKT and SK C&C.
SK Telecom recently announced the successful completion of its AI Customer Service Support System beta service. The system, powered by SK Telecom’s proprietary telecommunications-specialized large language model (Telco LLM) and large multimodal model (LMM), has been delivering solid results since its mid-October launch, the telco said.
The Korean carrier said it has collaborated with leading global LLM companies to develop a sophisticated AI system specifically tailored for telecommunications applications. The operator also noted that it has carried out rigorous testing and iterative reinforcement learning, to refine its Telco LLM and LMM to meet the demands of telecommunications services.
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.
