KaKao

- Conference held October 13–14 at Kakao AI Campus under the theme “Connections Meet Intelligence”

- Kanana Space: AI assistant accessible anywhere in KakaoTalk, handling everything from sending messages to managing schedules with a simple voice command

- Kanvas: Allows users to build and run their own teams of agents on their PCs, with plans to expand to agent sharing and connectivity

- Kanana AI models offer a full stack of capabilities, from diverse model sizes to computational efficiency, and continue to evolve toward personalized agentic AI

 

[October 13, 2026] Kakao (CEO Shina Chung) is holding its if(kakao)26 conference on October 13–14 at Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. The theme of this year’s conference is “Connections Meet Intelligence.” It reflects Kakao’s vision of adding AI that understands individuals to the connections it has built, enabling everyone to enjoy AI experiences tailored to their needs in familiar, everyday settings.

 

# AI That Connects Everyone and Understands Every Individual: Innovation Through an Agentic AI Interface

 

As the first keynote speaker, CEO Shina Chung opened the conference, saying, “I’d like to share how we are creating personalized experiences for individuals through agentic AI services.” Kakao then presented its vision of enabling users to ask AI to carry out tasks more naturally at various moments throughout their daily lives and receive more relevant responses based on their preferences and the context of each request.

 

To bring this vision to life, Kakao unveiled a series of initiatives: “Kanana Space,” an AI assistant accessible from anywhere in KakaoTalk; “Kanvas,” a service for creating and running personal teams of agents on a PC; “Kanana,” the AI models that power these services; “Project Mosaic,” which aims to deliver personalized AI experiences; and a blueprint for an AI safety platform.

 

“Kakao has spent the past 15 years connecting people with their everyday lives and bridging online and offline experiences with the goal of ‘connecting everything in the world,’” Chung said. “We now aim to expand the connections we have built into a new layer.”

 

# Kanana Space: A New Space for Accessing AI Anywhere in KakaoTalk

 

Daenyeon Kim, Performance Lead and Head of Design at Kakao, introduced “Kanana Space,” an AI assistant that users can easily summon from anywhere in KakaoTalk to request tasks on the spot. Whenever users need help, they can swipe the KakaoTalk screen with two fingers to bring up Ryan. They can then use voice or text to request a variety of tasks, from sending messages and managing schedules to searching the web and changing KakaoTalk settings. Users can also chat with Ryan about everyday topics.

 

Kanana Space is designed to make AI feel like a natural part of daily life, allowing users to interact with Ryan, a familiar Kakao character, anytime and anywhere. Kakao also plans to introduce characters based on a wider range of intellectual property (IP).

 

Kakao intends to further develop Kanana Space so users can complete tasks such as ordering products, sending gifts, making reservations, and transferring money with a single voice command. For example, if a user mentions needing bottled water at home and says, “Order bottled water,” the service could select the water they ordered previously and apply any available coupons, getting everything ready from ordering through payment.

 

Kakao will begin a closed beta test (CBT) in December with selected users who apply in advance. Applications open on October 13 through the Kanana Space website.

 

“Kanana Space aims to make AI assistance accessible to everyone in a simple, intuitive way, without requiring them to learn new ways of using technology,” Kim said. “We will make it easier for users to unlock the many possibilities of KakaoTalk with just a few words.”

 

# Kanvas: Build Your Very Own Autonomous Agent Team on a PC

 

Kakao also unveiled “Kanvas,” a new service that allows users to create and run their own agents directly on a PC. The company plans to conduct a CBT with a small group of users as early as this year.

 

When users describe the agent they need, Kanvas connects the right tools, skills, and other components to configure the functions required to carry out tasks. Agents created this way perform tasks within the scope authorized by the user. Instead of overseeing every step, users can have tasks completed by checking in at key stages. They can also delegate repetitive work and everyday to-dos with ease.

 

Kakao is preparing a feature that will allow users to share useful agents they have created with one another. The company aims to build a user-driven agent ecosystem where experiences and ideas are shared.

 

Kakao’s goal is to build an “integrated agentic AI interface” that connects a variety of agents to users’ everyday lives. Specifically, the company plans to introduce a new space in KakaoTalk in the first half of next year where users can access their own teams of agents. Users will be able to conveniently use agents created with Kanvas, as well as those built with other frameworks, through a familiar interface.

 

# Beyond Performance: Kanana, Kakao’s AI Models Designed to Support the Everyday Lives of 50 Million Users

 

Byungseok Roh, Performance Lead overseeing the development of Kakao’s foundation models, outlined the technical direction of Kanana AI models designed to support the everyday lives of 50 million users. Key priorities include full-stack optimization across AI model size reduction, computation, and serving; multimodal capabilities that understand text, images, and audio together; and agentic AI that completes the tasks users request.

 

Kakao’s strategy is to handle requests that can be processed on a smartphone using on-device models, while routing more complex tasks to larger models. This approach is designed to deliver performance, speed, and scalability together. In this process, the AI Conductor understands users’ requests and selects and coordinates the appropriate models, tools, and execution sequences, helping reduce inference costs. Kakao’s proprietary tokenizer also contributes to more efficient processing.

 

Kakao also described its multimodal experiences powered by “Kanana-o,” an omni-language model that understands text, images, and audio and responds with speech. Kakao has developed all the encoders and decoders that make up Kanana-o in-house and plans to release them as open source for use in AI ecosystems in Korea and abroad. The company also presented progress on “Kanana Live,” a full-duplex technology that lets AI listen and speak simultaneously.

 

Kakao has developed Kanana models capable of understanding users’ goals and carrying out the full process of planning, execution, and result verification. Going forward, the company will continue advancing these models toward more personalized agentic AI by improving their ability to understand users’ context.

 

# Connecting Memories and Experiences to Form Meaningful “Context”: Safety Systems to Verify Agent Planning and Execution

 

Jaeha Song, CTO, explained the technical foundations required for AI to go beyond simple conversation and act as an agent that transforms users’ everyday lives. Kakao is developing “Project Mosaic,” which connects users’ scattered memories and experiences to form meaningful context. The core concept is to securely provide each agent with only the information it needs, within the authorized scope, based on the user’s request and desired outcome. This lets agents with different roles collaborate while sharing the same context.

 

Kakao also outlined its platform strategy for reliably supporting personalized AI experiences. The company plans to continue strengthening its safety systems by establishing systematic data governance and multiple layers of safety validation, ensuring that agents plan and execute tasks only within the scope users authorize. Kakao also intends to strengthen its sustainable infrastructure foundation to deliver AI services reliably to a large user base.

 

Returning to the stage at the end of the keynote, Chung said, “‘Connections for everyone’ is a promise Kakao has upheld and a constant principle we will carry forward in the AI era. By adding intelligence that understands each individual and works according to their needs to the connections we have built for everyone, we will make AI accessible to all in the familiar settings of everyday life.”

 

This year’s if(kakao) features 55 sessions presented by employees of Kakao and its affiliates, covering topics including AI strategy, trust and safety, models and agents, reliability, and infrastructure. To encourage greater interaction among participants, the conference will also offer “After Sessions,” where attendees can engage in Q&A with speakers, and “Keyword Networking,” which provides opportunities to connect informally based on professional roles and shared interests. (E.O.D.)