Naver Corp. said its artificial intelligence (AI) search service “AI Briefing” has helped it secure a 64.39% share of the domestic search market within a year of launch, significantly outpacing competitors. The figure marks its highest level in eight years.
According to Naver on the 30th, AI Briefing has undergone about 22 major updates since its launch in March last year.
AI Briefing is a generative AI-powered search service that interprets user intent and context based on search queries, delivering summarized answers along with source information. It also recommends and connects users to relevant content.
Through ongoing updates, the company has expanded application areas and service formats in line with user search behavior. It has sequentially introduced specialized search features based on authoritative sources such as official public sector websites in health, public services and finance, tertiary hospitals, and expert research reports. For queries seeking clear factual information—such as “the tallest building in the world”—it has also introduced a direct answer feature that displays key responses at the top of the summary.
In particular, updates in January and February this year improved readability of search results by adding features such as visualized answers using tables and images, highlighted key information within summaries, and one-click re-search of related keywords.
These updates move beyond simple list-style summaries, presenting information in a more intuitive and user-friendly format, helping differentiate the service from AI-powered search offerings by competitors such as Google LLC.
For example, when users search to compare two concepts—such as “difference between resident registration report and confirmed date”—Naver structures key distinctions, including legal effect, timing and application methods, into a clear table format for easy comparison. In contrast, Google’s “AI Overview” presents results by listing definitions and effects of each concept.
The service also shows strengths when handling topics with large volumes of information, such as “financial industry certifications.” It organizes key certifications into tables and provides practical insights—such as perceived difficulty levels—based on user-shared information from Naver Cafe communities.
Following these enhancements, AI Briefing has continued to see user growth and achieved Naver’s internal target of a 20% share of integrated search queries ahead of schedule by the end of last year.
Clicks on “related questions,” which proactively suggest additional queries users may have, increased more than sixfold as of February compared with the initial launch. Click-through rates for “re-search keywords” within AI Briefing content also rose 86.1% over the same period.
Driven by AI Briefing, Naver’s search market share has reached its highest level in eight years. According to web analytics site Internet Trend, Naver’s domestic search share stood at 64.39% for the period from Jan. 1 to March 7 this year, far ahead of Google (28.54%), Microsoft Corp.’s Bing (3.66%) and Kakao Corp.’s Daum (2.72%).
Naver plans to expand the scope of AI Briefing to twice its current level this year by strengthening related organizations, and will begin testing advertising formats that integrate naturally into AI search results in the second half of the year.
Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, said during a conference call last month that the company aims to double the scope of AI Briefing by the end of 2026. “While focusing on expanding within informational domains, we will also extend into areas where Naver has strengths, such as shopping and local services, while advancing personalization to deliver tailored experiences for each user,” she said.