Korean AI startup alliance aims to take on Google, Facebook

A group of financial technology startups under Dayli Financial Group, a startup alliance in Seoul, have joined hands to offer AI services that could give "practical help" to financial firms. "Unlike Google's AlphaGo, IBM's Watson and Facebook's AI Research lab, which are more like pure research, our AI-based services are focused on addressing issues facing businesses," said Sophie Eom, who heads machine learning-based analytics solution firm Solidware, at a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul on Feb. 22. Solidware is one of the seven startups that have joined forces to form the startup group, called Dayli Intelligence. Each of the seven startups under the group, including Leevi and Heenam, is specialized in different fintech segments, but together they can offer better services, according to Eom, who also serves as a chief of the group's AI division. "After a series of meetings with corporate customers, I have found there is demand for a bundle of solutions, not just a single service," she said. The group will provide AI-based solutions for data analysis, natural language processing, and data scraping, which can be tailored for banks, insurance firms, and credit rating agencies.