KakaoBank Adds AI Chatbot Search

KakaoBank officially launches 'AI Search,' an innovative generative AI-based conversational search service, opening a new chapter in finance! Now, don't worry even if you lack complex financial knowledge. When you ask financial questions in everyday language, AI quickly and easily provides personalized answers. It is designed so that even customers with limited financial information can use financial services as if chatting with a friend. 'AI Search', developed after being designated as an innovative financial service by the Financial Services Commission last December, can be easily accessed from the search bar in the 'All' tab of the KakaoBank app. If you enter your query and select 'Ask AI', you will be automatically connected to a conversational page. Furthermore, it offers the convenience of being linked with Apple's Siri, allowing users to instantly connect to the AI Search page with voice commands like "Search for mortgage rates on KakaoBank" even without running the app. The core features of 'AI Search' go beyond simple answers. Along with accurate answers to questions, it maximizes the efficiency of financial information exploration by presenting a list of follow-up questions that users might be curious about next, all at a glance. For instance, if you ask about credit loan repayment methods, it will also show related questions such as required documents or interest rate determination methods. It's also noteworthy that RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) technology has been applied to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the service. KakaoBank has trained its large language models (LLMs) with proprietary financial data sources, enabling them to generate more sophisticated and reliable answers specifically tailored to the financial industry. Security has also been a top priority, with consumer financial information designed not to be stored on any external servers, thereby fundamentally blocking concerns about information leakage through AI learning. The service successfully passed the stringent security evaluation by the Financial Security Institute last April. The service is only available to authenticated customers aged 14 or older, and answers will not be provided if personal information such as resident registration numbers or account numbers, hate speech, or discriminatory expressions are entered. With the launch of 'AI Search,' KakaoBank declares its leap towards becoming an 'AI Native Bank' and plans to continuously introduce various AI-based services until the end of this year. In June, it will launch the 'AI Financial Calculator,' which easily and intuitively calculates complex financial information such as interest, exchange rates, and monthly repayments in a conversational format. This calculator will go beyond the limitations of existing financial calculators by understanding user intent and providing optimal answers even without requiring all conditional values to be entered. A KakaoBank official emphasized, "KakaoBank, which has been advancing its services with the goal of making finance easier and more convenient, will once again lead financial innovation through its AI-based services." Having established itself as the 'standard for mobile banking' since its launch in 2017, KakaoBank is expected to significantly improve financial accessibility for vulnerable groups such as youth and the elderly through its AI services, thereby creating a more inclusive financial environment.