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The operator says the agent can take proactive action to help customers with planning, execution, reminders and advice in their daily lives
SK Telecom (SKT) will bring its AI agent ‘Aster’ to the US market as early as March, the company has announced at CES.
Aster is SKT’s newly developed AI agent, which the operator says can go beyond merely answering questions for customers and instead can perform “essential tasks in daily life”. The agent operates much like a personal assistant, not only answering customer questions but making relevant suggestions related to planning, execution, reminders and advice.
“If a person on a business trip in Las Vegas asks about what to do on the final day of the trip, Aster figures out the user’s needs by suggesting shopping spots, restaurants or theaters, and draws up a feasible schedule,” explained the head of SKT’s GPAA Business Division, Chung Suk-guen.
“Aster’s ability to find solutions through user-agent interactions sets it apart from other AI services,” he explained. “The service simplifies decision-making and enhances productivity by guiding users step-by-step.”
Aster’s development was first announced in November last year at SKT’s AI Summit in Seoul. According to Chung, however, SKT has been targeting a global audience for Aster from the outset, with the expensive process of building an AI service meaning launching only in Korea would have been too unambitious.
“Scale is vital for an AI service because it requires significant investment. We concluded that creating an AI service tailored only to several tens of millions of people in Korea holds little meaning,” explained Chung.
SKT’s ultimate goal for Aster is to use the agent as a unified platform through which customers can more easily leverage a broad range of tech solutions; for example, the company is pursuing a partnership with tech firm Perplexity, which offers a generative AI-powered answer engine service.
“Our goal is to establish market influence so that Big Tech views us as a valuable partner,” Chung said.
Aster will begin beta testing in the US in March, with a commercial launch targeted for the second half of the year. Launches in additional countries are expected to follow in 2026.
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