Kakao Announces AI-Native Transformation Results at if(kakao)25: Development Productivity Improved by 50-100%

Kakao CTO Jung Gyu-don announced the results of the past year's AI-native transformation during the if(kakao)25 keynote, defining AI as an OS upgrade for human civilization and redefining the role of developers.

3-Stage Roadmap and Productivity Innovation

Kakao is applying AI across all business operations through a 3-stage roadmap consisting of individual experimentation, organizational diffusion, and company-wide transformation. By introducing AI to the Olive system, they achieved an average productivity improvement of 50-100%. At the 10K Hackathon, non-developer teams accounted for 15% of participants and implemented ideas into MVPs within 10 hours.

Additionally, operating the AI Mileage Program, which supports tools such as Claude Code and Cursor, resulted in 98% of participating developers experiencing reduced lead times and 89% perceiving quality improvements. Currently, AI agents are being expanded to all stages of the SDLC.

Beyond Development to Enterprise-Wide Productivity

CTO Jung Gyu-don pointed out that doubling development productivity does not lead to doubling overall enterprise productivity, as development accounts for only 10-20% of the total workflow. He emphasized the need to increase unit productivity for all roles, including planning, design, and QA, and then redesign the entire workflow from an AI-native perspective.

Redefining the Role of Developers

In the AI era, AI Native developers who focus on 'How' rather than 'What' are expected to become central. He predicted that the role and value of developers will expand further with the innovation of traditional industries and the arrival of the era of the one-person decacorn.