{"id":141080,"date":"2025-09-08T06:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T06:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/141080\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T06:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T06:28:12","slug":"sk-telecom-debuts-ai-agent-abroad-in-japans-timetree-tie-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/141080\/","title":{"rendered":"SK Telecom debuts AI agent abroad in Japan’s TimeTree tie-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea\u2019s SK Telecom Co. is taking its artificial intelligence agent overseas for the first time, betting that Japan\u2019s fast-growing AI market offers fertile ground to expand its AI ambitions.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s largest mobile carrier announced on Monday that it has invested 2.2 billion yen ($15 million) in TimeTree Inc., a Tokyo-based startup behind a popular calendar-sharing app in Japan, as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies. <\/p>\n

TimeTree, which debuted in the market in 2014, counts about 31 million registered users in Japan \u2013 nearly a quarter of the population \u2013 and 67 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

Under the partnership, SK Telecom will integrate its AI agent, called A dot, or A.<\/a>, into the TimeTree platform, marking the Korean AI technology\u2019s first deployment outside its home turf.<\/p>\n

The upgrade, powered by SK Telecom\u2019s latest Agentic Workflow technology, aims to transform TimeTree from a passive scheduling tool into an active agent that learns from user behavior, suggests events and manages tasks autonomously.<\/p>\n

For SK Telecom, the deal is part of a strategy to establish an early foothold in Japan\u2019s AI sector, where the government is stepping up support through new initiatives and relaxed regulations.<\/p>\n

\"SK
\nSK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang (5th from left) and TimeTree co-founder Park Cha-jin poses for a photo after signing a strategic investment agreement with TimeTree on Sept. 5 2025 (Courtesy of SK Telecom)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Korean company said it expects the collaboration to serve as a springboard for broader global expansion of its AI services.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollaboration with TimeTree will give SK Telecom an important opportunity to create new value in global markets with our AI agent technology,\u201d SK Telecom Chief Executive Ryu Young-sang said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will strive to lead the expansion of AI agent ecosystems in both Korea and Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE GLOBAL RACE FOR AI AGENTS <\/p>\n

AI agents are autonomous software programs that can carry out routine or complex tasks without constant human input. <\/p>\n

Unlike generative AI, which creates content based on prompts, agents are designed to act \u2013 planning, deciding and executing across multiple apps and services.<\/p>\n

\"A.
\nA. user interface (Courtesy of SK Telecom)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Generative AI has proven it can attract users, but agents promise recurring engagement and new revenue streams by embedding themselves in daily routines and enterprise workflows. <\/p>\n

That potential explains why global tech firms, ranging from OpenAI and Google to SK Telecom, are racing to build agent ecosystems.<\/p>\n

SK Telecom launched the first Korean-based large language model, A dot, in late 2023<\/a> and has since advanced it into a full-fledged AI agent.<\/p>\n

Late November, the company introduced an AI-driven personal assistant called Aster (A*),<\/a> built to understand user intentions and provide proactive suggestions. <\/p>\n

With the agent tailored for a global audience, SK Telecom is positioning the service as a step toward building its AI ecosystem in North America.<\/p>\n

Write to Ji-Hee Choi at mymasaki@hankyung.com<\/a>
Sookyung Seo edited this article.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s SK Telecom Co. is taking its artificial intelligence agent overseas for the first time, betting that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-141080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}