[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] “Vogl,” an artificial intelligence (AI) translation and interpretation solution developed by FLITTO Inc.(300080), has been introduced at Kyobo Bookstore’s brick-and-mortar locations to assist with serving foreign customers. The system is pre-trained on terminology specific to the bookstore environment—such as book categories and authors’ names—to reduce misrecognition issues common in general-purpose translation tools and enable store staff to provide assistance in various languages.

FLITTO Inc. announced on the 14th that it has supplied its AI-based interpretation and translation solution to Kyobo Book Centre’s Gwanghwamun, Gangnam, and Dongdaemun branches and has launched a pilot program (PoC) for serving international customers.

“Vogl Zone” mini-displays, specialized for customer consultations, were installed at the Gwanghwamun and Gangnam branches, while the Dongdaemun branch equipped tablets with the “Vogl” app, which is suitable for on-the-go customer service.

Pre-trained on book categories and authors’ names

Vogl is an AI interpretation and translation solution focused on reducing the voice misrecognition issues that conventional general-purpose translators frequently encounter in real-world settings.

For this implementation at Kyobo Book Centre, the system was pre-trained on book category classifications—such as self-improvement, fantasy, and history—as well as the names of major authors like Han Kang and Bernard Werber, thereby improving the accuracy of proper noun recognition.

An automatic language detection feature was also implemented. This allows store employees to conduct multilingual consultations with foreign customers without having to manually set the customer’s language each time.

FLITTO Inc. explained that, thanks to its high speech recognition rate and on-site specialized training, it can provide a translation and interpretation experience better suited to real-world service environments than general-purpose translation apps.

Boggle, a Countertop Model, Makes Its Debut in the Book and Culture Retail Sector

This PoC marks the first instance of FLITTO Inc.’s desktop-based offline AI translation and interpretation solution being applied to the book and cultural retail sector.

The company noted that this is significant because it expands the solution’s scope beyond the translation of standardized product descriptions or notices to the book sector, where cultural context—such as works, authors, and genres—is crucial.

FLITTO Inc. plans to pursue full-scale implementation at Kyobo Book Centre based on the results of this PoC. The company also intends to expand its scope to include not only retail channels such as warehouse-style stores and fashion and lifestyle shops but also service sectors requiring sophisticated multilingual support, such as hotels and medical tourism.

Lee Jeong-soo, CEO of FLITTO Inc., stated, “As the diversity of global visitors to key commercial districts grows, it is meaningful to be building a barrier-free offline environment with Kyobo Book Centre,” adding, “We will continue to drive innovation in offline communication across various industries.”