LINE Manga launches AI story chat service byUs

LINE Digital Frontier has launched ‘byUs’, an AI-driven story chat service within the LINE Manga app. The service allows users to engage in dialogue with characters from popular manga series, acting as the protagonist to shape unique narrative developments.

To ensure respect for intellectual property, the service only utilizes characters from works officially approved by their original creators. Users can choose between ‘Official Story’ mode, which follows established settings, and ‘Fan Story’ mode, which allows for the creation of custom scenarios and relationships that can be shared with other users.

Features include ‘recommended responses’, ‘autoplay’, and ‘snapshots’ that display images corresponding to the story's progression. The initial rollout includes characters from titles such as ‘The Engineer Next Door Wants to Change Jobs’ and ‘Operation: Pure Love’.

A pilot launch of the service via NAVER WEBTOON in South Korea reported significant engagement, recording 14 million conversations within 10 weeks and driving a 67% increase in original manga views.