Home > Business > Tech

This app lets you chat with K-pop idols — or, at least, AI versions of them

Published: 14 Jul. 2025, 14:41 Updated: 15 Jul. 2025, 18:28

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Blooming Chatbot will launch Blooming Talk, a service that allows users to communicate with musicians from A2O Entertainment and chatbots trained on their dialogue. [BLOOMING GRACE]

Wake up to girl group A2O May’s voice — or talk with her AI self whenever you want. Just don’t make it weird.

A new chatbot, set to launch in August, will allow fans to talk 24/7 with group A2O May and other pop artists from A2O Entertainment, the U.S.-based agency created by SM Entertainment founder and former producer Lee Soo-man.

Developed by Blooming Chatbot, the app — called Blooming Talk — will offer a “Human Talk” feature for direct communication with artists, as well as an “AI Talk” mode where users receive personalized responses from AI-generated versions of their favorite stars.

The app also includes a real-time AI voice call function, allowing users to speak with the AI in multiple languages. According to Blooming Grace, the artists’ AI personas are trained on real conversations and can be customized based on user preferences. The chatbot will also learn from each conversation to tailor future responses.

To address concerns around boundaries, the company says Blooming Talk will include strict ethical guidelines and operational policies that ban sexual content, favors and inappropriate language. All artists featured in the app have agreed to participate under fixed contract terms.

“The company is currently developing an ethical persona guideline that prohibits certain actions or language," a spokesperson said, adding that those guidelines would be spelled out in the chatbot's operation policies.

Blooming Talk's ″exclusive photo″ feature allows users to unlock certain photos depending on how much they've chatted with musicians on the app. [BLOOMING GRACE]

The app will also have a social media feed-like page called “moment” where artists will upload photos and text and an “exclusive photo” page where users can unlock photos depending on how much they have chatted with that artist. The app is equipped with a personalized notification system as well as a function that allows users to set voice and text of their designated musician as their morning alarm.

The app will be available in Korea, China, the United States and Japan at an undetermined date in August. Voice calls will support 30 languages including English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and French, but the language roster may be modified before the launch date, the spokesperson said.

The service will launch under Blooming Chatbot, a firm established in May 2024 under Lee’s company Blooming Grace. The software was developed by Mindlogic, a Korea-based large language model and AI platform startup, which has received 7 billion won ($5.1 million) in funding from Lee.

Lee founded A2O Entertainment in 2024 after being ousted from SM Entertainment over an internal management dispute.

The U.S.-based record label and entertainment agency houses artists including Chinese girl group A2O May, which debuted with digital single “Under My Skin” on Dec. 20, 2024.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]