Naver and Kakao plan to accelerate monetisation of artificial intelligence services in the second half, after strong first-quarter results. Kakao is expanding AI features in KakaoTalk that proactively suggest information based on chat context and is testing agent commerce tied to gifting and external partners. Naver is strengthening action-oriented AI that links personalised search answers to shopping, orders and reservations, aiming for monetisation in later quarters through ads and higher conversion.

Naver’s first-quarter revenue rose 16.3 percent from a year earlier, but operating profit grew 7.2 percent as AI infrastructure investment and content procurement costs were incurred first. Its operating margin fell to 16.7 percent from 19.1 percent in the previous quarter. Infrastructure costs rose 32.5 percent and partner and marketing expenses also increased. Naver plans to step up AI advertising monetisation from the second half.