SK Broadband, a fixed-line affiliate of Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom, launched a voice-controlled artificial intelligence (AI) internet protocol TV (IPTV) service..
SK Broadband said that it has integrated its IPTV B tv set-top box with SK Telecom's AI platform NUGU, naming the new service B tv x NUGU.
The Seoul-based company said that it has accumulated technical knowhow since it began a voice search service in December 2016 for the first time among other IPTV service providers here.
Its new offering enhanced the voice search service further, enabling customers to search for a program using natural language even if they do not know the exact name of the program.
"After the search results come out, customers can perform additional searches until when they find the content they want," an SK Broadband official said.
For example, if a user says, "Find ultra-high-definition American action movies released in the 2000s," the user can keep searching by saying, "Among those, find free movies only" or "Find those starring Russell Crowe."
Youn Seug-am who leads the media department of SK Broadband said, "Previously, users could search for certain words only using the voice search service, but the new service enables more complicated searches by natural language."
He said the company will continue to develop its natural language processing functions.
Users can also control other smart devices at home such as air conditioners and air purifiers by using B tv x NUGU. The firm noted that its service offers various smart home services based on the internet of things (IoT).
Other voice search services provided by B tv x NUGU includes weather, fortune for today, dictionaries and Wikipedia as well as the results of sporting events.
Park Myung-soon, senior vice president at AI business office of SK Telecom, noted the company's AI platform has kept growing, citing the latest release of the new IPTV service after T Map x NUGU, a next-generation navigation service, was released in September.
"Our goal is to increase the number of monthly NUGU users to more than 5 million," she said.
She added the company wants to increase the number of customers especially in smart home service as NUGU customers have tended to mostly flow into the AI navigation service.
Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2018/01/133_243062.html