[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom said on March 14 the monthly users of its artificial intelligence speaker NUGU hovered above 3 million as of February, with the number of conversations taking place rising at a rapid pace.

The company said the number of active users for its AI speakers came to 3.63 million last month.

“With the monthly users of NUGU hovering above 3 million, the company has created grounds for sharp growth and can push Korea’s AI industry to a new level,” the company said.

SK Telecom said it plans to secure 5 million monthly active users by the end of this year by providing more features, and to continue efforts to foster its own AI ecosystem.

First released in September 2016, SK Telecom said while it took seven months for NUGU to reach its first 100 million dialogues, the speakers are now being used more extensively, with a growing number of users having conversations with the smart device.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)