South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission held its 10th plenary meeting on the 2nd and deliberated and approved the results of a pre-assessment review of Naver Corp's search artificial intelligence (AI) agent service, AI Tab. The commission approved a decision that Naver would be able to operate the AI Tab service legally on the condition that it implements agreed matters.

Naver applied to the commission for a pre-assessment review before rolling out the AI Tab feature, which provides personalised search results in a conversational format with an AI chatbot, in order to prepare ways to use user data lawfully and safely.

The pre-assessment review system applies when it is difficult for an applicant, at the planning and development stage of new technologies and services such as AI, to find clear ways to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act based only on existing legal interpretations and enforcement precedents. Under the system, the applicant cooperates with the commission to draw up a legal application plan suited to the environment of the new technology or service. If the applicant implements it, the system does not impose disadvantageous measures afterward.

AI Tab is a search AI chatbot service offered on Naver's search screen. Unlike existing searches that listed web pages, it summarises and analyses key content and provides it in a one-to-one chat format. If AI uses information such as a user's past service usage history, gender and age group, and interests in selecting what to answer, it can provide more relevant search results.

Naver uses data from related services it provides, including activity records for blog and cafe posts and shopping history, in addition to users' search service usage records, to generate personalised answers. The commission judged that Naver can operate the AI Tab service legally on the condition it implements three agreed matters.

First, for users who do not want personalised answers, it required Naver to provide easy-to-understand guidance on the existence and meaning of an option to refuse the use of provided data. It also required Naver to continuously improve measures to ensure meaningful ex post control rights by reviewing user feedback and other input.

Second, it required Naver to disclose transparently, through its privacy policy and other means, the customised information items and main details used for the AI Tab service. It also required Naver to devise additional safety measures to prevent misuse and leakage of personal information.

Third, it required Naver to ensure that sensitive information under the Personal Information Protection Act is not inferred or used in the process of analysing users' Naver service usage history. It also required Naver to ensure that unique identifying information, account numbers and credit card information are not included in AI answers.

The commission plans to check whether Naver is actually implementing the agreed matters once the AI Tab service is officially launched soon.