Naver said on Sunday it took part in the tech conference Sushi Tech Tokyo 2026 held in Tokyo and unveiled its direction for designing artificial intelligence as social infrastructure and its vision for future cities.

Sushi Tech Tokyo is an Asia-wide technology conference where innovative companies from around the world gather to share technology and ideas to build sustainable urban models.

A main session on the day featured Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon (최수연), Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok (석상옥) and Naver Cloud director Kim Ju-hee (김주희), who held a discussion under the theme "From AI to Society" on designing AI as social infrastructure. Choi said the company would boost service competitiveness and contribute to social development through sovereign AI that understands users in each country and respects cultural and value systems.

Naver introduced the status of its AI welfare-check service CareCall and its on-site collaboration platform Line Works. CareCall is being used in Izumo, Japan, and elsewhere as infrastructure to check on older people and improve resilience in the event of disasters. Kim said, "Line Works is lowering the technology barrier for frontline workers through its Roger function that replaces analog walkie-talkies and AI-OCR that converts handwritten documents into data."

Discussions also covered digital twin and robotics technologies that connect the physical world and AI. Seok introduced cases of building digital twins in Saudi Arabia and in Nagaishi, Japan. He explained cases in which technologies validated at Naver's second headquarters, 1784, are being expanded into urban environments through NTT East, Saudi Arabia's NHC and the New Murabba partner.

Choi said, "AI has evolved into social infrastructure that supports everyday life," and added, "We will seek a balance point that connects society, people and technology in valuable ways through AI."

Sushi Tech Tokyo 2026 runs from Sunday to April 29 at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, Koto Ward, and is expected to draw 60,000 visitors from around the world.