Line Corp., the owner of the popular messaging app Line, has announced that it plans to turn its service into an all-in-one entertainment platform powered by AI. The company aims to have the platform be used as a communications and video entertainment service within the next five years. This change of approach was announced by the company CEO in an annual strategy briefing, where it was also added that Line is expecting to see growth from its forthcoming ability to become a central hub for its users, both on- and offline. The move would make Line a similar app to the Chinese app, WeChat, which also promotes the idea that it can act as an all-in-one platform for users. Line will also pit itself against Google and Amazon with the release of its Wave AI assistant later this year, which is likely to work together with its other services in the future. The CEO of the company also said that it is hoped that Line would become a “definitive hub for information flows in the smartphone era”, adding that AI would be where efforts were focused as the technology sparked “intense competition worldwide”. Line is the leading messaging service in Japan, with a strong user base in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.
