Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, speaking at the global tech conference SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 in Tokyo, said artificial intelligence is evolving into “social infrastructure” and outlined the company’s vision for future cities.
Naver said Monday that Choi joined Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok and Naver Cloud Director Kim Ju-hee in a main-session discussion titled “From AI to Society: Designing AI as Social Infrastructure.”
The speakers said AI is moving beyond a standalone technology to become essential infrastructure that supports daily life, and they described what they see as Naver’s role as a platform company.
Choi said Naver operates large-scale services such as search and shopping while also running its own AI models and cloud infrastructure, and that those capabilities come with social responsibility. She said Naver will strengthen services and contribute to social development through “sovereign AI” that deeply understands users in each country and respects local cultures and value systems.
Naver also highlighted use cases for its AI-based welfare check service, CareCall, and its collaboration platform, Line Works. CareCall, built on HyperCLOVA X, is being used in places including Izumo, Japan, to check on older residents and as part of disaster-response infrastructure, the company said. Line Works is supporting digital transformation for small business owners and frontline workers through features including AI-powered optical character recognition, it said.
Kim said Line Works is lowering barriers for frontline workers through its “Roger” function, which replaces walkie-talkies, and document digitization technology. She said such connectivity is central to intelligent infrastructure that improves efficiency across society.
Naver Labs presented its approach to building future cities based on digital twin and robotics technologies. Seok cited examples in Saudi Arabia and in Nagaishi, Japan, saying digital twins are taking hold as next-generation urban infrastructure.
He also said robot-friendly technologies validated at Naver’s second headquarters, “1784,” are being expanded into real urban environments through global partners including NTT East and Saudi Arabia’s NHC.
Choi reiterated that AI has become social infrastructure and said Naver aims to balance technological scalability with social responsibility in ways that benefit users, small business owners and countries.
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 is a global technology conference hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, bringing together companies and institutions to discuss sustainable cities and future technologies. The event runs from April 27 to 29 at Tokyo Big Sight, and organizers expect about 60,000 visitors.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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