TLDR: Rakuten Group and Rakuten Mobile have officially launched Rakuten AI, a new cutting-edge AI agent designed to enhance user experiences and streamline interactions across the Rakuten Ecosystem. Initially integrated into Rakuten Link and available as a web app, this marks the beginning of the ‘Rakuten Agentic AI era.’ The service is free to use and will be rolled out to Rakuten Ichiba in Autumn 2025, leveraging deep Japanese Context Awareness and specialized AI skills.
Tokyo, Japan – July 30, 2025 – Rakuten Group, Inc. and Rakuten Mobile, Inc. today announced the full-scale launch of Rakuten AI, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence agent poised to revolutionize user engagement within the expansive Rakuten Ecosystem. This strategic move ushers in the ‘Rakuten Agentic AI era,’ aiming to enrich and empower daily life through intelligent, streamlined interactions.
The initial deployment of Rakuten AI sees its integration into Rakuten Link, the communication application for Rakuten Mobile subscribers. Additionally, it is accessible as a standalone web app in its beta phase. A key highlight of this launch is that Rakuten AI will be free of charge for users across all its current forms. Looking ahead, Rakuten has ambitious plans to integrate Rakuten AI into Rakuten Ichiba, its prominent e-commerce platform, by Autumn 2025.
Rakuten AI is positioned as an essential gateway, seamlessly connecting users with the diverse services offered within the Rakuten Ecosystem, which spans sectors such as shopping, lifestyle, fintech, travel, education, work, wellness, and entertainment. A significant differentiator for Rakuten AI is its robust ‘Japanese Context Awareness.’ This capability enables the AI to deeply understand the Japanese language and culture, facilitating integration with local services and delivering highly personalized experiences aimed at fostering lifelong happiness, success, and fulfillment.
According to Ting Cai, Rakuten Group Chief AI & Data Officer, ‘The launch of Rakuten AI represents a significant step forward in our AI strategy.’ He further emphasized that ‘AI is touching every aspect of our life,’ and that advances in AI agents are already impacting daily routines, from assisting with train schedules to revolutionizing the advertising industry. Cai believes this shift presents an immense strategic opportunity for Rakuten.
Rakuten AI is designed to evolve into a ‘force multiplier,’ capable of decoding user intent, unifying fragmented data, and driving action. Users are expected to gain instant access to the intelligence of thousands of experts, enabling them to think faster, make better decisions, and execute tasks with expert insight across various fields. The company’s vision for an ‘Agentic Ecosystem’ aims to create a hyper-personalized, intelligent, and interconnected experience for users across its platforms.
This launch builds upon previous AI initiatives by Rakuten. In October 2024, Rakuten Link AI was originally launched, and the updated version now empowers subscribers with enhanced AI chat and auto-generated prompts. Rakuten Mobile also launched ‘Rakuten AI for Business’ in January 2025, a Generative AI solution for corporate clients, tailored to Japanese business culture and regulations, offered at JPY1,100 ($7.14) per license per month with a one-month free trial. This corporate offering focuses on document generation, translation, idea development, analysis, and research through an interactive chat interface, ensuring data security by not using user inputs for AI model training without explicit permission.
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Rakuten’s commitment to AI is further underscored by its participation in the GENIAC initiative, a Japanese generative AI project, where it was selected for the third phase focusing on improving domestic research capacity for large language models (LLMs). Rakuten plans to commence research and development for this phase in August 2025. The company’s ‘AI-nization’ initiative promotes the integration of AI across all business aspects to drive further growth, with continuous improvements and expansion of Rakuten AI’s capabilities planned to encompass even more of the Rakuten Ecosystem.
