“My grandmother often goes a whole day without saying anything, and it seems she's gradually forgetting how to speak. I think continuing the conversation with Clova Care Call would be a big help,” said Ms. Sato, a 30-something office worker residing in Kyoto.
“After the car accident, I developed a speech impairment, and although I can think of what I want to say, it takes me a long time to express it. After talking with Clova Care Call, I felt like the blocked parts were slowly opening up as if they were being lubricated. I have hope that if I can practice like this every day, it will really get better,” said Ms. Takahashi, a 67-year-old grandmother residing in Osaka.
“It’s not easy to open my heart to someone, but while talking with Care Call, I was able to share for the first time about my husband who passed away five years ago. Letting out my sad feelings felt very healing,” said Ms. Suzuki, a 69-year-old grandmother residing in Kobe.
On the morning of Oct. 10, in front of the exhibition booth for Naver Cloud's AI welfare phone service 'Clova Care Call' set up at the Kansai Expo in Osaka, Japan, despite the scorching heat exceeding 34 degrees Celsius, the exhibition hall, which was prepared on a space of 130 pyeong, was bustling with people who had come to experience Clova Care Call. On the previous day, more than 4,000 visitors visited the booth to try Clova Care Call. When asked for their impressions after trying it out, the visitors responded with surprise, saying, “It feels just like talking to a real person.”
◇ The first export country for 'Clova Care Call' is the super-aged country 'Japan'… Targeting the AI welfare market
Clova Care Call, which started in Korea in 2021, is making a full-scale foray into overseas markets. The first export country is the super-aged country of Japan. Naver Cloud has received positive reviews from locals after launching a pilot project for Clova Care Call in Izumo City since last October. As a result, on the 23rd of last month, it signed a business agreement to introduce Clova Care Call with Izumo City in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Following this, the system will undergo upgrades tailored to local circumstances, with a formal launch planned for around April next year.
Naver Cloud plans to expand this service throughout Japan starting from Izumo City. On the 9th, Kim Yuwon, the CEO of Naver Cloud, met with reporters and stated, “Starting with the export of Clova Care Call to Izumo City, we will expand technology to other regions in Japan and present a regionally tailored artificial intelligence (AI) welfare model,” expressing ambition to open a new market related to AI welfare in Japan. The reason Naver Cloud chose Japan as its first export country is partly due to the absolute shortage of caregiving personnel. Mr. Kim noted, “AI enables efficiency in welfare sectors, reducing the caregiving gaps caused by personnel shortages, and is gaining attention as an AI-based welfare service,” and added, “We aim to create various AI welfare business models in the Japanese market, which is entering a super-aged society and is even facing a shortage of caregiving personnel.”
◇ Equipped with domestic LLM 'Hyper Clova'… “Able to remember conversations and continue dialogues”
Clova Care Call is characterized by its ability to provide personalized care, going beyond a simple automatic response system to offer continuous conversation and conversation memory functions. On this day, when a reporter asked for a recommendation for an interesting Korean drama, Clova Care Call recommended “Strange Lawyer Woo Young-Woo,” suggesting to drink plenty of water and watch the drama because of the hot weather. It felt just like conversing with a person. According to a survey conducted by Naver Cloud, actual user satisfaction was reported to be high, ranging from 80% to 95%. Currently, Clova Care Call has been introduced in over 140 local governments across Korea, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Busan, serving more than 30,000 elderly people living alone and middle-aged single households.
The natural conversation ability, which is Clova Care Call's greatest strength, is made possible by the implementation of Naver's large language model (LLM), 'Hyper Clova.' Through natural conversation, it allows understanding users' health conditions, moods, and whether they have eaten or slept, and accumulates this data to provide personalized management. Kim Dong-hoe, Director of Naver Cloud AI Solutions and Clova Care Call JP, explained that “the conversational ability optimized for emotional nuance and contextual understanding is Hyper Clova's greatest asset.”
◇ Potential role as a social safety net for elderly care
On this day, Naver Cloud promoted that Clova Care Call would play a significant role as a social safety net responsible for the safety of elderly individuals living alone to visitors at the exhibition booth. Kang Byeong-geon, a leader at Naver Cloud in charge of booth guidance, said, “If any abnormal signs are detected during the welfare phone check-in, AI helps connect immediately to hospitals and local organizations to respond quickly to emergencies,” adding, “It is gaining attention as an AI-based welfare service that enables efficiency in the welfare sector, reducing the caregiving gaps caused by personnel shortages.”
In fact, Clova Care Call has successfully rescued elderly individuals living alone in crisis situations in Korea. Last August, after an AI welfare phone call in Suncheon City went unanswered by an elderly person, it quickly detected an emergency situation and decided to visit the scene, saving a patient who was in a state of emergency liver cirrhosis. CEO Kim Yuwon emphasized, “Advanced technologies such as AI are expected to become not just simple innovations, but daily safety nets and essential welfare infrastructure in a super-aged society.”
Meanwhile, not only local visitors from Japan but also representatives from local governments participated in the exhibition on this day, showing great interest.