Naver’s visual search service, Smart Lens, is steadily evolving. (Photo provided by Naver)
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Naver’s artificial intelligence search service “AI Briefing” is gaining traction in image recognition, underscoring the company’s push to differentiate itself from global rivals like Google.
Since late July, the Korean tech giant has integrated its Smart Lens feature with AI Briefing, allowing users to upload photos of restaurants, menus, or landmarks to generate instant search results. Unlike text-based queries, the service caters to cases where users may not know specific keywords or struggle to describe an image in words.
Since late July, the Korean tech giant has integrated its Smart Lens feature with AI Briefing, allowing users to upload photos of restaurants, menus, or landmarks to generate instant search results. (Image courtesy of Naver)
The system can pinpoint parks, beaches, or public spaces even without visible signage, leveraging Naver’s extensive database of local businesses, blogs, and community content. Executives say this local data depth gives the platform an edge in accuracy and user relevance.
Behind the scenes, the service combines image classification, object recognition, and query generation, supported by Naver’s proprietary indexing and vision AI models. More than 20 percent of the company’s image data involves local topics, further reinforcing its advantage.
Initially launched for products, flowers, and wine, the service expanded in August to cover local places and general information. It now applies to about 75 percent of all queries, with plans to extend into fashion and other image-heavy categories later this year.
Naver also emphasized that contributions from small business owners and independent creators remain central to improving the quality of its AI services, promising stronger support for content creators as the platform scales.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
