“Mom, 300,000 won.”

On the 24th, internet-only bank KakaoBank launched the first transfer service in the domestic financial sector that uses generative AI (artificial intelligence). It is a service that lets you send money easily with only a brief conversation with the AI.

On launch day, reporters tried sending money with the service themselves. After opening the KakaoBank app installed on a smartphone and tapping the ‘AI transfer’ menu, a screen appears where you can converse with the AI.

If it is an account you have transferred to at least once before, saying ‘name and amount’ is recognized immediately by the AI. You can also set nicknames for accounts such as ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, which can be even more useful for accounts you transfer to frequently.

However, for now voice recognition is only available on iPhones with the proprietary AI system ‘Apple Intelligence’ installed, and on Android phones you must input text in the AI chat. Simply entering ‘Mom 100,000 won’ immediately brings up the account number, bank, and amount information for the transfer.

For the final ‘Transfer’, the AI asks, ‘Shall I transfer to XXX?’, and you must enter your password yourself for the remittance to go through.

KakaoBank said, “If a customer requests a transfer as if conversing in everyday language, the AI handles it on their behalf,” adding, “It reduces the previous steps of entering information such as bank name, account number, and transfer amount into a single sentence to deliver a new transfer experience.”

If you had to enter all the information such as account number and bank, in fact, you might not find it more convenient than the existing mobile banking transfer process.

KakaoBank designed the AI to ‘ask again’ when a customer request is unclear, to prevent mistaken transfers. For example, if you enter ‘umma’ instead of Mom, it asks back, ‘Is this the correct recipient to transfer to?’ For a security check, the bank also conducted penetration testing with the Financial Security Institute before the service launch.

KakaoBank and other internet-only banks are actively adopting AI technology for financial services and related operations.

Having introduced an ‘AI search’ service in May, KakaoBank plans to launch an ‘AI group treasurer’ service next month that automates tasks such as settling dues in group accounts. K Bank is preparing an ‘AI app translation service’ that translates key app content in real time into foreign languages such as English, Chinese, and Vietnamese.

Toss Bank, which is applying its self-developed AI-based ID verification technology to customer authentication, also said it obtained approval from the Financial Services Commission that day to sell the technology to financial companies and general businesses.