Rakuten to Collaborate with OpenAI to Develop State-of-the-Art AI Experiences for Consumers and Businesses

Tokyo, August 2, 2023 - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with OpenAI to deliver state-of-the-art conversational artificial intelligence (AI) experiences to consumers and businesses in Japan and worldwide. The two companies will actively explore use cases together in an effort to revolutionize the way consumers shop and engage with businesses while concurrently enhancing productivity for merchants and business partners in Japan and on the global stage.

A global innovation company with more than 70 services and 1.7 billion members worldwide, Rakuten operates Japan’s largest online shopping mall and offers a diverse portfolio of services spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content and telecommunications. OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Leveraging its high-quality data and extensive domain knowledge, Rakuten will integrate AI services into their products and services. OpenAI will provide Rakuten with priority access and support to its APIs and explore mutually beneficial commercial opportunities.

Additionally, the Rakuten Group will bring Rakuten AI experiences into ChatGPT products by leveraging the OpenAI plugin architecture, enabling businesses to use natural language for interacting with AI agents that conduct research, analyze data, optimize inventory, pricing, automate business processes and more.

With Rakuten’s diverse ecosystem of services and 100 million members in Japan, this collaboration presents an opportunity for elevating the online services landscape and delivering new breakthroughs for business customers in combination with OpenAI’s pioneering AI capabilities. By leveraging Rakuten’s unique data, channels and operations with the cutting-edge technology, the two companies hope to bring value to millions of people in Japan and even more worldwide.