Vision, Mission and Values of AI Business of LINE, Japan’s Largest Communication Platform
LINE, a communication platform provider in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and other Asian countries, operates its businesses under a company system. The AI business is also an independent company, and in addition to providing value to LINE’s services, it also provides its own services, as well as solutions and technologies to other companies. As an independent business entity, the company’s vision, mission, and values based on the corporate vision are also essential.
Naturally, the final decision is made by the Company CEO, who is the head of the Company, but on the other hand, I believe that the deep understanding and empathy of middle management is extremely important in the implementation of the vision. As a middle management who is in charge of product and service planning for the AI Company, I would like to write about my own thoughts and values regarding the vision, mission, and values.
First, there is the vision, mission, and values.
Vision
Creating the future norm by bringing a more natural user experience to Life on LINE.
(Original in Japanese)
より自然なユーザー体験を、Life on LINEにもたらすことで、これからの当たり前を作り出す
Mission
Eliminating hidden inconveniences in life and work with advanced AI technology
(Original in Japanese)
生活や仕事に潜む煩わしさを、高度なAI技術で解消する
Value
1. Understand the essence of elemental technologies and customer needs to create experiences like LINE that people want to use repeatedly
2. Be a highly transparent team based on trust and respect as a professional team with diverse backgrounds
3. Catch and ride the waves of market and technological change
(Original in Japanese)
1. 要素技術と顧客ニーズの本質を理解して、LINEのように繰り返し使いたくなる体験を作り出す
2. 多様な背景を持つプロフェッショナル集団として、信頼と尊敬に基づく透明性の高いチームになる
3. 市場や技術変革の波を捉えて乗りこなす
Now, let’s go one by one.
1. Creating the future norm by bringing a more natural user experience to Life on LINE.
First of all, it’s important to understand what “more natural” means. This word comes from the perspective that our current experience of daily life is full of unnaturalness, and among them, the Internet experience, in a sense, “everything now is unnatural”.
Therefore, the target is all unnatural experiences, but there are three axes in which the unnaturalness can be resolved: use case (vertical), memory (horizontal), and fusion of real and digital (depth). In a diagram, the image looks like this.
If I were to write it down in words, it would be “more natural,” but I think it is necessary to go through each of these three axes in order to get there. Let’s look at them one by one.
The first is to make the experience in each use case vertically deep and natural.
For example, when you want to check the weather on your phone, you unlock it and open the app to check the weather forecast. Maybe you don’t want to see the weather forecast in the first place, but just want to know if you should take an umbrella with you. If that’s the case, the natural experience is
You: “Do you need an umbrella?”
Response: “You’d better take it.”
That’s it. Today’s spoken dialogue services have yet to reach a level where they can be said a natural experience, including the tempo of the conversation and the accuracy of the response. However, at least beyond that evolution, we should be able to realize a user experience that is far more natural than the current touch operation.
In terms of real user experience, for example, the process of verifying one’s identity, such as opening an account, is the same. Why do I have to make a copy of my driver’s license and send it by mail? Even if the bank itself is digitalized, it is inconvenient and unnatural for both the user and the business if the surrounding operations remain analog. To make it natural, AI OCR (character recognition) will read the information on the driver’s license, and facial recognition technology will match the information to confirm the identity. The entire process, from entering the application information to verifying the applicant’s identity, can be completed online. In this way, the user experience will be uninterrupted and natural.
The examples above, such as voice interaction and digital identity verification, are easy to understand and familiar examples. It may seem obvious when I write it down, but in our daily lives, there are many things that, even if they are inconvenient, once we get used to them, we don’t notice that they are unnatural. I would like to start with those things that are highly repetitive and unnatural to most people, and turn them into natural experiences.
And the second is horizontal evolution, that is, expanding horizontally.
In the case of voice assistants, depending on the various use cases, optimized dialogue scenarios can be designed and deployed through the most appropriate interface. Thus, voice assistants appear in a variety of situations, such as smart speakers, answering phone calls in stores, and voice search on smartphone applications.
In this case, I believe that the important thing in expanding horizontally is to remember. For example, if you ask a voice assistant on an app how to quit smoking, they should understand that this person is probably quitting or trying to quit smoking. Then, when that person calls a certain restaurant and the voice assistant accepts the reservation, it would be nice if the voice assistant would be smart enough to recommend a non-smoking seat without asking.
It’s the same with identity verification. I would like to be able to confirm my identity once and have it memorized so that I don’t have to go through the whole process of confirming my identity every time I need to make another transaction.
Compared to vertical evolution, horizontal evolution has many more elements that need to be considered in order to realize it, and the degree of difficulty in realizing it is higher. However, I believe that it will be very important to make the experience natural as a line rather than a dot.
Third, after horizontal and vertical, is depth. The evolution in depth is not to increase the depth, but on the contrary, to decrease the depth, to reduce the distance between real and digital to zero.
For example, imagine the action you would take after watching TV and thinking that you would like to buy a local specialty product that was introduced there.
First, type the name into your phone and search for it to buy it.
> It’s not good. In this experience, there’s a disconnect between offline and online.
Second, hold your phone up to the TV screen to recognize the image and search automatically.
> I think it’s a bit advanced, but it’s not very good. Holding up your phone is a hassle and not very natural.
Third, the system recognizes the image that a person is looking at as digital information, and searches for what the person is looking at by just saying, “What is that?”. Then the product information is displayed as an overlay on the person’s vision. All you have to do is say, “Buy it,” and the purchase is complete.
> If you can do this, you can project the information you need onto the real world and complete it, keeping watching TV, without looking to your smartphone.
The third example is even more difficult to realize because it requires the widespread use of smart glasses, smart contact lenses, and other devices that overlap the real and the digital, but in a world where this is realized, the distance between the real and the digital will be zero.
If the distance between the real and the digital is reduced to zero, we will be able to see the reputation of the stores on the street and what kind of menu they offer by overlaying the appearance of the stores as we walk down the street. You will also be able to naturally know the names of the people in front of you and what topics are appropriate, based on information from social networking services. Furthermore, all the white walls can be used as a display to show the necessary information. (Not actually displaying, but superimposing digital information on a real wall as if it were displayed on that wall.)
It will take a long time to completely reduce the distance between the real and digital worlds to zero, but I believe that eliminating the divide between the real and digital worlds is essential to achieving natural experiences.
The first part of my vision is quite lengthy, but I would like to create a natural user experience based on three axes: vertical x horizontal expansion and zero depth, in other words, a fusion of real and digital.
The destination for the implementation of this natural user experience will naturally be the corporate vision of supporting all aspects of life, namely Life on LINE. I don’t have to argue about this.
We want to make this natural experience the norm, and that is the last word of our vision: to create the norm of the future.
This word has two meanings.
The first is that in order to create the next norm, we need to identify the essential value that makes the current norm. In the image below, you should aim for the middle of the image, not the “edge”.
When you are planning a product or service, you tend to be aware of your competitors’ products and markets and try to find gaps. In order to become the next norm, you need to beat the current norm. In order to do this, we need to identify the essential value, and then continue to refine that value, rather than finding gaps, which is the right thing to do.
The second is to make it so prevalent that it becomes the norm.
It is still in its early stages when it is only noticed by the industry and users. If it spreads horizontally enough, it will no longer be noticed and people will not be aware of its existence. I think it is only when it reaches such a state that it can be called norm. The second meaning of the word “norm” is that we should become so natural that we forget that we exist.
With these two meanings in mind, the last words of the vision, “Create the norm.
This is a very long story, but these are my thoughts on the vision.
Next is the mission.
2. Eliminating hidden inconveniences in life and work with advanced AI technology
As I wrote in the vision, our daily experience is full of unnaturalness, and unnaturalness is always accompanied by annoyance and hassle. The reason why AI technology can solve this problem is because it is a technology that crosses the barrier between analog and digital.
There are many different areas of AI technology, but at the moment the technology provided by LINE CLOVA is mainly AI technology for user interfaces. This includes voice recognition, speech synthesis, image recognition, and so on. Until now, user interfaces have evolved from mouse to touch, but they are still digital interfaces, and people operate them according to the digital interface.
For example, with voice recognition, people can access the digital world as if they were talking to a person, or people can write letters by hand and have them read by OCR instead of typing them into a computer. In other words, instead of people adapting to the digital, the digital should be adapting to people through AI technology.
This makes it easy for people to use computers with a natural interface, and the ability of converting from analog to digital means that they don’t have to go through the trouble of typing twice.
These technologies on their own, or in combination, can eliminate various hassles with solutions such as conversational AI. However, there are other reasons to focus on AI technology, i.e., reasons to cross the barrier between analog and digital.
One of them is that analog input leads to a deeper understanding of the user.
For example, when a person asks “I want to know about the flu,” it is difficult to guess the context of the question when it is typed as text. However, if the question is asked in a voice, and the voice is cheerful, it may be appropriate to tell the person how to prevent it. On the other hand, if he seems to be coughing, it would be better to tell him about the nearest hospital. That’s about it.
The same is true for reading handwriting. Digitally input letters do not tell us whose input they are, but handwritten letters are different for each person. In other words, not only does it contain information about the character, but also about the person who wrote it.
As shown in this example, analog inputs contain information and states that lead to a deeper understanding of the user, which cannot be found in digital inputs. The more deeply we know about the user’s state, the more optimally we can change the response and behave appropriately.
Second, AI based user interfaces can be analog-like output and can be communicated in a more natural way.
For example, even if you see an article about a cafe and think it’s nice, unless you want to go there intentionally, you won’t have much of a chance to actually go there. On the other hand, even if the information is pushed on your phone when you are passing by, it would be troublesome to look at it every time. In the first place, it would be dangerous to look at it while walking. In such a case, by using synthetic voice, it can tell you , “The cafe you were looking at the other day is nearby, would you like to go there?” without getting visual attention.
The same is true for the expression of text. In a world where the real and the digital are merging, as I wrote in the vision, it would be strange to have digital fonts superimposed on the real world. Instead of digital fonts, I think it would be more natural to have analog-like fonts that look like they were written by a person, such as the letters on a cafe sign, that match the design of the scene and surroundings.
Furthermore, we believe that the combination of these two elements, deep user understanding and natural output, will make the Internet experience two-way : Reactive and Proactive.
The current Internet experience is basically Reactive. The user uses it with the intention of doing something or looking something up, and it responds in some way. However, if we have user understanding and are prepared for natural output, we will be able to proactively convey information and encourage action before the user does the action, without interfering with the user’s behavior.
If we can create an appropriate Proactive experience based on the understanding of the user, that is, if we can properly inform the user or prompt them to take action before they do something, that would be the ideal solution to the hassle, wouldn’t it? In order to achieve this ideal solution, I believe that AI technology, which bridges and shortens the distance between digital and analog, is an essential element.
It’s been a long time again, but these are the parts of the mission.
Next is values. Values here are the common philosophies of the organization, the values to be cherished and the assumptions to be made. Let’s go one by one.
3.1 Understand the essence of elemental technologies and customer needs to create experiences like LINE that people want to use repeatedly
The first of the values. First, understand elemental technologies. I think the reason why this is the first word in the first set of values is because the organization has a common understanding of how much it values elemental technologies, and how elemental technologies are the source of creating user value.
Not only researchers, but all people involved in the AI business, including planning, marketing, and business, are required to have a certain understanding of the elemental technologies. In other words, it is good to have an understanding of the boundaries, what can be realized with what level of accuracy, what are the key factors that raise the accuracy, what are the bottlenecks, and of course it is good to have an deep understanding the technology itself, but more importantly, we place the understanding necessary to sublimate the technology into user value as our value criteria.
Next word, understand the essential needs of your customer. This is a common analogy: if a person (end user or customer) wants a horse that runs fast, you should provide them with a car at the right time. Appropriate timing is also important. To say that the essential value for you is a car without understanding the other person’s position and situation is to miss the user’s point of view. On the other hand, I think that continuing to offer horses forever and ever is equivalent to running away from the essential solution. I think it is important to provide the essential value at the most appropriate time, including whether the user can accept it or not.
Lastly, I’d like to talk about experiences that make people want to use the product repeatedly, like LINE. because of the nature of AI-related products, experiences themselves are often quantified and evaluated. For example, in the case of voice interaction, the task completion rate is measured by how many users are able to complete the task (the desired action).
While quantification is important as a basic premise, what is also important is to value the existence of sensory usability and pleasantness without denying it. By using a variety of services, we can sharpen these senses and place importance on the quality of the experience in both quantitative and qualitative terms.
3.2 Be a highly transparent team based on trust and respect as a professional team with diverse backgrounds
I have written more about this in another article.
Building a strong team is one of the main jobs of leaders and management, and this article describes the mindset and concrete ways to make individual professionals into a professional team as a whole, with what kind of sensitivity. The above article was written prior to the establishment of these values, but I hope you will take a look at it, as it is based on trust and respect, and includes how to ensure transparency, which in turn creates a good tension in the team, and why these are necessary.
3.3 Catch and ride the waves of market and technological change
It’s the last of the values. Ride the wave. Waves are caused by a variety of factors. This covid-19 disaster is no different. It can also be caused by technological change, which is literally a value. Other times, waves are caused by market leaders who have the purchasing and diffusion power to create waves (which is often overlooked when focusing only on technology and changing people’s minds).
The first important thing is to understand how these waves occur, and to be able to detect their existence and size as soon as possible. The second important thing is to understand the size of the wave and then ride it appropriately. What is important here is that it doesn’t say, “Make waves!”.
It may seem cool to make a wave by yourself, but the important thing is not who started it, but how much value you created by riding that wave. Of course, if it is most efficient to make the wave yourself, you should do so, but even if someone else created the wave, if it leads to great value, you should ride it with all your might, regardless of appearances.
4. In the end
The above is a rather lengthy description of my thoughts and ideas on the vision, mission and values of LINE AI Company.
At the beginning of this article, I wrote that a deep understanding of middle management, the executors, is essential. The reason why I can talk about this at such length is because I myself have a vision that I want to realize as my life work, and I have linked it to that of LINE AI Company. In other words, when I started thinking about the vision, mission, and values of LINE AI Company, I wasn’t thinking from scratch.
If I had to start from scratch, I think it would be difficult for me to speak in my own words about the world I want to achieve, which I thought about in the limited time I had for work. And if I can’t talk about it, it seems to me that it will be even more difficult to take my thoughts and put them into action. (At least for me, it is very difficult)
This is a very subjective opinion, but I think when I think for the question of how to instill vision, mission, and values into an already existing organization, “How do we link the life vision of each individual with that of the business?” is very important. Rather than imposing it on them, we need to find the connection through dialogue. If we can find the point, I think it will lead to a very deep and strong penetration.
This is a bit of a digression, but this is what I have to say about the vision, mission and values of LINE AI Company. There are many things that have not yet been realized, and there are many things that need to be considered before they can be realized. There is also a possibility that we will update the information to a more optimal direction depending on the situation at the time.
However, if the real world and the digital world merge, and the digital world proactively conveys various information and supports actions, I believe that the user experience will become completely different and more natural than before.
We are always looking for new people to work with, so if you are interested in LINE AI business, please feel free to contact us on LinkedIn.
