South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. said Thursday it has partnered with tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. in the artificial intelligence sector to tap deeper into the burgeoning industry.

Kakao I, the company's AI platform, will be integrated with Samsung's voice recognition program, Bixby, to allow more users to better experience the technology, Kakao said.

"The cooperation with Samsung Electronics shows that Kakao's service has a competitive edge and the potential growth of Kakao I," said Rim Ji-hoon, CEO of Kakao, in a press release, adding that the company plans to expand cooperation with Samsung in other sectors, such as the Internet of Things.
 

Kakao, which has been rolling out various services on the back of its 38 million local users of the KakaoTalk mobile messenger, hopes to provide improved service through the partnership.

Bixby is the deep-learning based AI voice recognition system, allowing it to better communicate with users as it accumulates data. The company launched an English version in South Korea and the United States in July, and further expanded the service to 200 countries in August. (Yonhap)