Google, Naver and Kakao have entered into fierce competition in the South Korean image search market. All three companies are developing AI-powered image search services in an attempt to succeed in this developing segment of the mature South Korean digital market. AI-powered image search technologies use machine learning capabilities to understand the contents of images by identifying the key information contained within them. Google is expected to launch its AI-powered image search service Google Lens in South Korea by the end of 2017, where it will be available on smartphones loaded with the Google Assistant. Google Assistant was launched in South Korea on the 21st of September. Meanwhile, Naver has already launched a beta version of its own service, called Smart Lens. The service works on mobile and uses its “Scopic” technology to find images similar to one that a user inputs. Finally, Kakao recently launched its own AI image search tool called Flower Search, which searches for pictures of flowers. It has also launched a search function within its Kakao Talk messaging platform, which allows users to search for similar-looking product images by clicking on images received within the app.
