SK Telecom evolves it's 'A.' app to prioritise Conversational AI

It's always useful to keep a close eye on some of the more advanced companies and cultures on the planet to get an idea of what might be coming our way.

The Nordics, for example, is a great area to observe closely because the societies there have been digitally native way, way, way before everyone else in the West.

When it comes to the East, and South Korea, for example, I often find they're on a totally different level. It's just fascinating to watch the innovation in all areas. Some of it can't come our way easily, simply because we don't have the base-level infrastructures (in all contexts) that these societies have already constructed.

Conversational AI though. That's reasonably common. So it's exciting to see what the behemoth SK Telecom has been doing with its 'A.' customer app. (Interestingly, SK Telecom refers to themselves as a Global AI Company, not necessarily a telecoms player - more on that in another post).

Back in June, they posted a press release announcing: SKT Evolves A. into a Smarter Conversational AI. Here's a snippet from the release:

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”) today announced that it has released a major UX overhaul of its AI service ‘A.’ (pronounced A dot) to enhance customers to enjoy various content based on personal tastes and preferences. The reorganization includes enhancements to several features such as the addition of new AI agents that are capable of taking on diverse personas. SKT has improved the UX of the main screen of ‘A.’ so that various content can be viewed on one screen at once according to the user’s unique preferences.

A few days ago, the team at The Fast Mode posted some more news on the topic: SK Telecom Upgrades AI Personal Assistant ‘A.’ with LLM-Based Conversational Intelligence. Here's a snippet:

SK Telecom has announced a complete overhaul of its innovative artificial intelligence (AI) service, ‘A.’ (A-DoT). The revamp aims to transform the A. app into an AI personal assistant focused on enhancing daily convenience for customers.

They went on to highlight the Conversational aspect in a bit more detail:

The most significant feature of this revamp is the enhancement of natural conversation experience based on a large language model (LLM) and the strengthening of daily management functions through multi-agents. The entire user experience (UX) will be overhauled to enable flexible conversations with an LLM-based agent.

I would imagine this isn't a shot in the dark by some over-enthusiastic Product Owner. I would imagine there's been a lot of thought gone into this approach.

Although we absolutely can't transplant the SK Telecom offering to other mobile operators in other regions, I can imagine this approach will be getting a lot of attention from some of the leading players around the world.

It will be really interesting to see how things develop with the A. app. Which bits do the users really embrace?

Placing the Conversational AI interface(s) at the centre of things is going to be fascinating to behold. Which begs the question for the mobile operators (and vendors supporting them): What's your end-user Conversational AI UX strategy?

One to watch!