Line Yahoo Japan is launching an AI search service using Google Cloud’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform, ‘Vertex AI,’ on its portal in Japan. Concerned about Line Yahoo’s financial structure relative to its parent company Naver, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has pointed out that Line Yahoo is partnering with Google instead of its parent company Naver.
According to the IT industry on the 5th, Line Yahoo plans to display AI-generated answers to some smartphone users starting this month. Impress Watch reports that Line Yahoo will utilize Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, with AI-generated answers displayed alongside search results. Line Yahoo plans to provide guidelines on using generated AI given that it is a trial service.
Line Yahoo is a core IT company in Japan with a 50% stake each owned by Naver in Korea and SoftBank in Japan under the joint venture ‘A Holdings.’ With Line (messenger) and Yahoo Japan (search engine), Line Yahoo has a user base of 96 million in Japan. SoftBank holds management rights while Naver holds development rights. Naver gave SoftBank management rights during the joint venture in exchange for expecting global expansion of Naver’s technology.
However, Line Yahoo’s collaboration with Google symbolizes a lack of synergy. Naver had developed the large language model (LLM) HyperCLOVA X early on and is known to be superior to OpenAI’s GPT in Japanese inference. Naver has also released an AI search service ‘Cue’ that provides answers through conversations. Nevertheless, since the establishment of the ‘Generative AI Headquarters’ in June last year, Line Yahoo has actively utilized technology from U.S. Big Tech companies. Specifically, Line Yahoo internally utilizes OpenAI, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) AI.
During a recent earnings call, Naver CEO Soo-yeon Choi expressed regret that there has not yet been close cooperation with SoftBank, stating, “In terms of A Holdings Line Yahoo, we are technological partners through shareholding, but there has not been close cooperation.”