SK Telecom said on Aug. 28 that, after being selected as an operator for the government's 'All People's AI' service, it will roll out a beta version in October of an agentic AI service that carries out public and daily-life tasks based on its proprietary AI foundation model, A.X K2.

All People's AI, promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, is a government project to help all citizens use AI without cost burdens or usage restrictions.

The service SKT is developing will provide daily-life and public information tailored to users' circumstances and link it to follow-up actions. In the public sector, it will provide needed benefits and information first, without users having to search for it themselves. It also plans to implement a function that, linked to Government24 and PASS, can issue 83 types of certificates including a resident registration transcript.

It is also preparing a medical linkage function that provides customised care information based on health records. It will combine and explain health screening results and records of treatment and prescriptions, and guide users on items requiring retesting. It will also offer a function that, when users enter symptoms, finds nearby hospitals and links through to appointment booking.

In daily life, it will further develop the service so it can carry out routine tasks such as making phone calls and reservations on users' behalf. In the process of performing actual tasks, it will apply user verification and approval, and minimal use of personal information.

SKT explained it is aiming for an 'agentic AI secretary' that goes beyond a chatbot that simply answers questions by first suggesting information users need and carrying out follow-up tasks.

For example, if a job seeker asks about a recruitment posting, it will provide the posting along with related policies, and if the user registers postings of interest, it will manage application document schedules. For small business owners, it plans to provide a 'store operations consultant' function that organises sales, costs and tax status, and finds government support programmes while guiding eligibility and schedules.

The service is being developed so it can be used not only through a smartphone app but also by phone and text message. SKT plans to use its telecommunications network and voice recognition and synthesis technology so older people and digitally vulnerable groups who are not familiar with smartphones can use AI services without the burden of using a separate app.

SKT formed a consortium of 20 companies and institutions in areas including AI search, finance and payments, mobility, media, healthcare, education and care for the project. Separately, it signed memorandums of understanding with 11 companies, bringing total cooperation to 31 companies and institutions to build the service ecosystem.

Kim Ji-hoon (김지훈), head of SKT's AI business division, said, "We will responsibly present an AI service that the public can tangibly feel is helpful by bringing together our experience operating public-facing AI services since 2022 and the consortium's capabilities."