Character AI Startup Malabs Selected for TIPS, Pushes Toward Global Expansion

At a glance

AI agent and hardware startup Malabs has been selected for TIPS, a tech startup support program run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It plans to use 800 million won in R&D support to grow its AI technology and expand its business. The company secured both investment and government support about seven months after being founded.

Key points

1. 1

   Malabs makes interactive devices that add AI (artificial intelligence that talks like a person) to characters. These are devices that respond to and play with users.

2. 2

   It is working with IP (intellectual property) companies in Korea and abroad to turn characters from many fields, including K-pop, animation, and games, into devices.

3. 3

   It plans to develop technology that keeps characters' personalities and worldviews consistent and automatically checks the quality of their conversations.

4. 4

   It plans to launch products mainly in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, and expand into overseas markets with AI technology that can be used across many characters.

Why it matters

It shows that characters are changing from goods people only look at into forms that talk directly with people.