SK Broadband unveils upgraded AI-powered IPTV service

SK Broadband Co., South Korea’s No. 2 internet service provider, has upgraded the voice command function of its internet protocol television (IPTV) service with the generative AI service developed by its parent SK Telecom Co.

The company on Thursday introduced the so-called B tv A. Service, a new AI voice command service, which not only searches for content upon voice commands through its on-demand video service but also delivers rich and informative answers to questions.

“It (B tv A. Service) can clearly understand the intention and context of questions raised by users and speak the best answers back to them,” said Kim Seong-soo, vice president of the Customer Business division at SK Broadband during the media demonstration of B tv A. Service on the same day.

Backed by A Dot, SK Telecom’s generative AI service powered by the ChatGPT model of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service, B tv A. Service is an upgraded version of SK Broadband’s previous voice command service.

Thanks to the generative AI technology, the new service can understand the context of a conversation and grasp complex intentions better so it can engage in a more logical and useful conversation, SK Broadband explained.

For example, it can read out reviews of a certain TV show and summarize stories or anecdotes told during normal conversations.

B tv A. Service is also the industry’s first service capable of multiturn dialogue searches across multiple media encompassing over-the-top (OTT) services, using B tv A. and YouTube to come up with the most timely relevant information.

Multiturn dialogue uses follow-up prompts and context to manage multiple turns, known as multi-turning, from one question to another.

The new service will be available at SK Broadband’s new set-top boxes – AI 4 vision and Smart 3 – which were also unveiled on Thursday.

The AI 4 vision is an AI set-top box powered by AI accelerator neural processing unit (NPU) chips and on-device AI, which enables AI processing without connection to a server or cloud.

SK Broadband plans to expand B tv A. Service’s application to about 2 million set-top boxes later.  

The company also introduced an AI smart remote controller, which is a mobile app controlled via smartphone.

With the new services, SK Broadband is accelerating its transformation into an AI-based media portal as part of its parent SK Telecom’s transformation into an AI company from a traditional telecom company.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.