● Provides AI technologies owned and developed by LINE to other companies
● AI chatbot technology LINE BRAIN CHATBOT, optical character recognition technology LINE BRAIN OCR, and voice recognition technology LINE BRAIN SPEECH TO TEXT, to go on sale in phases from July
TOKYO – June 27, 2019 – LINE Corporation (“LINE”) announces the launch of its LINE BRAIN business today, which will offer AI technologies developed by LINE—such as the Clova AI assistant—to outside companies.
LINE BRAIN official website: https://www.linebiz.com/jp/service/linebrain/ (Japanese only)
Up until now, LINE has been developing and incorporating a wide range of deep learning-based AI technologies—including the Clova AI assistant—into the LINE messaging app and its various other services. Installed on smart speakers and other devices, Clova allows users to check the weather, play music, and send and receive LINE messages simply by using their voice. These functions are powered by AI technologies such as voice recognition and speech synthesis. Another is the chatbot technology leveraged by LINE Kantan Help, an official LINE account, which enables the AI to promptly respond to questions that users send in the account’s LINE chatroom. Yet another is the optical character recognition technology (OCR) used within LINE chatrooms and in the LINE CONOMI food review app, which automatically converts characters captured by camera from an image or a receipt into text. From today, LINE BRAIN will offer these AI technologies from LINE to outside companies.
Further, LINE BRAIN will be moving forward with development aimed at combining LINE BRAIN’s voice recognition, chatbot, and speech synthesis technologies to make an AI-driven auto-response system for telephones into a reality. It is anticipated that this feature will be able to automate telephone calls in a wide range of scenarios, including at customer support centers, and for restaurant bookings.
Video：https://youtu.be/SwZLp5Y-Z4g
By providing LINE’s technologies from here on, LINE BRAIN aims to not just help other companies improve the productivity and convenience of their services, but also to make everyday life more convenient for the users of these services.
Sales plans
LINE will begin offering chatbot technology, character recognition technology, and voice recognition technology in phases from July.
LINE BRAIN CHATBOT
This technology is capable of understanding and responding to natural speech, and can be linked to and utilized by a LINE Official Account or other application. It is interactive and assists users in accomplishing their desired action. The AI learns as it is being used, and becomes capable of providing more appropriate responses. It can also be used with services other than LINE, such as LINE WORKS, Facebook, and web chats. LINE BRAIN CHATBOT has also shown a higher correct response rate compared to other chatbot technologies.* The technology could be used to handle customer inquiries and provide answers to in-company FAQs.
*Based on a LINE Corporation study. “Correct response rate” refers to whether or not the bot gave the expected response to a question.
LINE BRAIN OCR
This technology converts letters and sentences in an image into text data, and has outperformed the competition at international conventions to demonstrate the highest level of accuracy in recognizing characters within a photograph, scanned or printed text, or a screenshot. At ICDAR, LINE BRAIN OCR surpassed the AI technologies of its competitors and claimed global first place in four areas as of March 29,2019. The technology could be used to read text on application forms, order forms, and invoices, as well as the dates, items, and amounts on receipts, or driver licenses, My Number card and other documents required for the identity verification process (eKYC).
LINE BRAIN SPEECH TO TEXT
This technology converts human speech into text and also supports voice calls via telephone and VoIP. It is also capable of handling real-time automated response at call centers and transcribing text from long documents through batch processing. Also able to handle product names and other unique words (which otherwise have a lower accuracy when it comes to speech recognition), it is expected that the technology could be utilized at customer support centers, for transcribing video subtitles, and preparing meeting minutes.
LINE BRAIN’S partners
LINE has selected partners to cooperate with it in the development and improvement of AI technologies.
It has already signed a memorandum of understanding with SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation and ITOCHU Corporation to cooperate in the development of image recognition technology and other initiatives. Currently, the three companies have begun working on a proof-of-concept for commercializing a “next generation television” that will combine Sky Perfect JSAT’s video services and lifestyle information services for an all-new customer experience. More information on the partnership can be found at the link below.
https://linecorp.com/en/pr/news/en/2019/2768
LINE has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Dialpad Inc. for the joint development of voice recognition technology and other AI technologies. The two companies will begin holding talks on technological development and improvements. More information on the initiative can be found at the link below.
https://linecorp.com/en/pr/news/en/2019/2769
Upcoming business strategy briefing
LINE invites corporate representatives to attend its upcoming business strategy briefing (details below), which will provide information on its sales plans and future strategies for LINE BRAIN. LINE looks forward to welcoming many guests interested in AI solutions or in collaborating for technological development.
Date and Time: 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm (GMT+9), July 23, 2019 (Tuesday)
Venue: Bellesalle Onarimon Tower (Sumitomo Realty & Development Onarimon Tower, 1-1-1 Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
How to apply: Please apply at the website below.
https://www.linebiz.com/jp/service/linebrain/
*If there are more applicants than places available, attendants will be selected by lottery.