Inside Rakuten AI: Shaimay Shah on driving Rakuten’s AI transformation
In this series, we sit down with Rakuten AI leaders for a deep dive into the stories behind this transformative technology and the inspiring individuals driving Rakuten’s vision of AI for all. Watch this interview and others in the Inside Rakuten AI Series on our YouTube channel.
Rakuten is re-shaping how businesses operate, and people work by integrating AI into everyday job processes. At the heart of this transformation is Shaimay Shah, a data scientist in Rakuten Group’s AI & Data Division, who joined Rakuten as an intern and now helps to drive initiatives that redefine internal operations and external offerings.
“With the rise of generative AI, my department evolved over time from a data science department to an AI department. Today, we’re the AI for Business department, and we’re focusing on a lot of AI for business initiatives,” Shaimay explains. “Within the department, my role has gradually shifted from being purely technical and coding-focused to encompassing product management and organizational outreach, both internally and externally, that promotes the use of gen AI and empowers people to use it effectively.”
For Shaimay, Rakuten presents a unique opportunity to explore the business possibilities of this new AI wave.
Embracing AI from the inside
While Shaimay’s department initially focused on providing data-driven insights for sales teams, the rise of generative AI prompted a strategic pivot.
Rakuten’s approach is two-fold: test internally and scale externally. Internally, the company developed Rakuten AI for Rakutenians—a tool that automates routine tasks such as summarizing meetings, chats, and emails. By using its own ecosystem as a testing ground, Rakuten ensures its AI solutions are both robust and user friendly.
Externally, the company leverages these learnings through Rakuten AI for Business, offering clients practical AI applications that drive efficiency across industries. This strategy positions Rakuten as a model for integrating AI into diverse business environments.
“THE GOAL FOR RAKUTEN AI FOR RAKUTENIANS STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT TO EMPOWER OTHERS, WE MUST FIRST EMPOWER OURSELVES.”
SHAIMAY SHAH, RAKUTEN GROUP DATA SCIENTIST AT AI & DATA DIVISION
“Rakuten has these Triple 20 goals to improve productivity, marketing, and sales for our clients by 20%. But how can we do this for our clients if we don’t do it for ourselves first?” Shaimay remarks. “The goal for Rakuten AI for Rakutenians stems from the fact that to empower others, we must first empower ourselves.”
Shaimay initially regarded Rakuten AI for Rakutenians as simply a more economical alternative to popular external tools. But the project soon evolved into something considerably more ambitious.
“WE’VE ENABLED CUSTOM AI CREATION WHERE ANYONE CAN CREATE THEIR OWN AI. EVERYONE HAS KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY WANT TO USE BUT CAN’T UPLOAD EXTERNALLY.”
Rakuten AI for Rakutenians has also transformed how many non-technical employees approach work.
Custom AIs for every use case
A standout feature of Rakuten’s strategy is its focus on accessibility. Non-technical employees can now create custom AI applications without coding expertise. Whether it’s automating SQL queries or summarizing complex documents, the platform enables teams to address their unique challenges directly.
“We’ve seen interesting applications like meeting summarization and sales training,” Shaimay explains. “We’ve enabled custom AI creation where anyone can create their own AI, provide prompts, and add tools like internet search, Wikipedia search and document uploads. Many teams have documents they want to upload and leverage – sales teams, marketing teams, finance teams – everyone has knowledge that they can’t upload to external platforms but want to utilize.”
This democratization of AI not only speeds up workflows but also cultivates a culture of continuous improvement and shared innovation. Core to this feature is shareability. “When one person creates a solution to a problem, we believe others in the organization will have similar needs, so we’ve made these custom AIs shareable. One of the most popular custom AIs in the organization has about three thousand users,” Shaimay reveals. “This ground-up validation is what we’ll be taking forward to Rakuten AI for Business.”
Planting a seed for AI growth
Shaimay has seen in real time how Rakuten’s AI efforts are impacting organizational culture.
“We’ve observed that many departments that started using Rakuten AI for Rakutenians began with zero or very little knowledge of generative AI,” he explains. “Over time, as they adopted Rakuten AI for Rakutenians, they started forming small committees to teach each other. We’ve seen this in many departments where enthusiastic people – whether they were fresh graduates or executives – who understood how to use generative AI were willing to teach others. We saw groups form where even the most junior members were teaching everyone else.”
“I’M WAITING TO SEE THE COMPOUND EFFECTS OF RAKUTEN AI ACROSS THE ENTIRE COMPANY. WE’RE JUST AT THE ROOT LEVEL, WITH A HUGE TREE TO GROW.”
Many of these departments are honing Rakuten’s AI tools for their own specific purposes.
“After six or seven months, those departments have surpassed what Rakuten AI for Rakutenians can provide and have begun transforming their own operations with AI,” Shaimay says. “This happened because they’ve seen what Rakuten AI for Rakutenians can do. They’ve gone back and questioned: Is this meeting necessary? Is this process necessary? How can we change it in the world of AI? Can AI help with this? Rakuten AI for Rakutenians served as a seed for AI ideas to grow.”
A vision for the future: AI as a ‘second brain‘
Looking ahead, Shaimay envisions a future in which AI can serve as a kind of cognitive extension-a “second brain”-that augments human capabilities.
“We joke that we all want our own AIs – I want a ‘ShaimAI’ that understands my daily context, can draft email responses, summarize chats, and act as a second brain in the background, collecting context from text messages, meetings, code and confluence documents.”
To achieve this vision, Shaimay is laser-focused on helping Rakuten overcome current AI challenges. The goal is clear: to develop AI that provides actionable insights and enhances human productivity.
For Shaimay, the most exciting developments are still to come.
“My favorite application hasn’t been built yet – I’m waiting to see the compound effects of Rakuten AI for Rakutenians across the entire company,” he reveals. “We’re just at the root level, with a huge tree yet to grow.”
AI as a practical tool for today’s workforce
With its strong focus on execution and actionable KPIs, Rakuten is proving that AI is not just a futuristic concept but a practical tool for today’s workforce. By testing AI internally and scaling it externally, the company demonstrates that the benefits of AI are both immediate and far-reaching for businesses of all sizes.
In the fast-paced era of generative AI, Rakuten is setting a new standard for innovation, transforming routine operations, reducing inefficiencies, and empowering teams to reimagine what’s possible.
