Developing AI solutions for webtoon production-Collaborating on IP for North American distribution
"Expanding into overseas distribution markets"
ToonSquare (CEO Lee Ho-young), the operator of webtoon creation SaaS solution 'Tooning', announced on September 26 that it has signed an MOU with webtoon creation studio Kennaz (CEO Lee Woo-jae) to develop artificial intelligence webtoon production technology.
ToonSquare plans to lead the innovation of webtoon production, such as shortening the webtoon production period and reducing costs, by advancing and commercializing the development of "webtoon production AI solution" through collaboration with Kenaz.
Kenazu is a webtoon creation studio specializing in webtoons and has introduced a pre-production and internal exclusive writer system to secure high writing quality and solid story lines. Currently, about 200 webtoon writers are active.
Through this agreement, ToonSquare will be able to share various contents, services, and human and material resources necessary for the development of AI webtoon production technology. Through this, it is expected to grow into a technology that enables more efficient webtoon production, such as advancing AI solution technology by utilizing high-quality webtoon data.
Toonsquare and Kenaz are planning to launch an 'AI Education Project' (consortium) in the first quarter of 2024, not only through technology development collaboration but also through government support projects. Under the leadership of ToonSquare, it plans to participate in AI talent training with various companies, including Kenaz."
Lee Ho-young, CEO of ToonSquare, said that the "webtoon production AI solution" aims to reduce the production time of webtoon writers by "about 5 times or more" compared to the current webtoon production process, 'Web Novel > Conti > Webtoon', by analyzing the work process that requires a lot of labor through AI technology and optimization system. In addition, through this strategic collaboration with Kenaz, ToonSquare will not only produce webtoons but also enter overseas markets, such as entering the North American IP distribution market.
ToonSquare is a startup that officially launched in 2017 through Samsung Electronics' internal venture project 'C-Lab' and spun off in 2019 to provide generative AI research and services related to artificial intelligence, and currently launches and operates global SaaS services such as Toon Editor, Toon Magic AI, and Toon World, and is growing 500% every year.
Tooning is a creative and interactive webtoon authoring tool that allows anyone to become a webtoon author, and aims to innovate as an authoring tool-based UGC (User-Generated Content) webtoon platform.