AI Home Helpers

[Anchor Lead]

An artificial intelligence home service has been released on the South Korean consumer market for the first time. Competition may soon heat up among companies developing these home helpers equipped with AI.

[Soundbite] "How is the fine dust level today?"

[Soundbite] "The comprehensive air quality index is bad."

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This palm-sized speaker is a home artificial intelligence device called "Nugu," released for the first time in Korea.

[Soundbite] "Turn on some music for a rainy day."

It selects suitable music and operates home appliances.

[Soundbite] Jang Hye-jeong(Seoul Resident) : "I am very busy taking care of my baby, so the voice-recognition function is very convenient."

Global IT companies are already competing to develop home assistants equipped with AI. Two years ago, Amazon introduced "Echo," a voice-controlled device capable of taking orders and arranging deliveries. Google revealed the home AI device "Google Home."

[Soundbite] Park Il-hwan(Head of Device Support Team, SK Telecom) : "Voice recognition AI devices will be developed in various ways in the future, including wearable and social robot styles."

As AI assistants evolve in various ways to aid users, the market for voice-recognition AI devices is predicted to grow to 5.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.