Rakuten AI in 2024: A year of empowerment
2024 was truly a transformative year in Rakuten’s AI growth journey, marked by groundbreaking advancements across our ecosystem. From the launch of our high-performance Japanese large language models (LLMs) and AI-powered tools like Rakuten Link AI, to expanding partnerships with OpenAI and L’Oréal Japan, we made significant strides in our mission as an AI-empowerment company.
With a rock-solid commitment to ethical AI governance and sustainability, we have also earned recognition as an AI leader in Japan – one that is leveraging innovation to empower businesses, customers and society.
Let’s take a look at some of our biggest AI stories from 2024.
January
Rakuten kicked off 2024 with a strong focus on AI as the central theme for the year. At the annual New Year event at Rakuten’s global headquarters in Tokyo, Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani emphasized the company’s new AI-nization initiative, designed to integrate AI into all company operations and empower employees with AI education. Executives shared insights on leveraging AI to enhance innovation and efficiency.
February
In February, we announced significant strides in AI-powered telecom solutions and energy efficiency. Our expanding partnership with OpenAI focused on improving operations performance and customer service, while Rakuten Symphony demonstrated 25% energy savings in mobile networks using AI-driven RAN Intelligent Controller technology.
- Rakuten and OpenAI Partner to Deliver Cutting-Edge AI Tools for Telecom
- Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony Demonstrate 25% Energy Savings Through AI Model on RAN Intelligent Controller
At MWC Barcelona – the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event – we showcased AI-At MWC Barcelona – the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event – we showcased AI-driven telecom innovations, across our cloud, RAN and OSS solutions.
March
Rakuten released its first high-performance Japanese large language models (LLMs), including the foundation model Rakuten AI 7B, the Rakuten AI 7B Instruct model and Rakuten AI 7B Chat based on a version of the instruct model and fine-tuned on chat data for conversational text generation. Rakuten AI 7B boasted best-in-class performance among similarly sized open models at launch, demonstrating our commitment to empowering Japanese companies with the latest cutting-edge AI tools.
Rakuten Group Chief AI & Data Officer Ting Cai joined Shoptalk 2024 to share insights into Generative AI’s impact on businesses and the way we work.
April
Rakuten Viber launched an AI-powered feature to summarize group chats. This feature helps users quickly catch up on up to 100 missed messages. Designed with privacy in mind, the summaries are optional, visible only to the requesting user, and do not store or share data externally.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Ichiba showcased its cutting-edge AI-powered store management tool, RMS AI Assistant (Beta), and a new e-learning platform to help e-commerce merchants streamline operations and improve customer engagement.
Additionally, we were honored to host our strategic partner, OpenAI, for a special discussion session at our global headquarters in Tokyo. OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap and Ting Cai explored how AI tools like ChatGPT can empower businesses and enhance productivity in Japan and around the world.
May
Rakuten Advertising launched AI-driven updates under its Affiliate Intelligence initiative, helping advertisers and publishers leverage automation, data transparency, AI and more. Ting Cai also took the stage to share strategies for building impactful AI products at Rakuten India’s biggest event of the year, Rakuten Product Conference.
- Rakuten Advertising’s Affiliate Intelligence Delivers AI-Driven Capabilities to the Affiliate Industry
- From Vision, to Strategy, to Execution: Ting Cai on Building Useful Products with AI
We also brought back the Rakuten Optimism U.S. event after a five-year hiatus, welcoming nearly 1,000 marketing leaders and professionals under the theme “Fueling Meaningful Connections.”
- Reimagined Rakuten Optimism US Fuels Meaningful Connections and Positive Vibes
- Rakuten Optimism 2024 | Official Highlights
August
We held our annual flagship conference, Rakuten Optimism 2024, in Tokyo. Mickey Mikitani’s headlining business conference keynote address touched on AI and mobile innovation, as well as e-commerce, fintech and sustainability. Ting Cai and guests from across the Group also demoed Rakuten AI innovations like Rakuten AI-powered customer service and the upcoming Rakuten AI Assistant (universal concierge) that enhances customer experiences.
- “AI for All” the Message at Rakuten Optimism 2024
- Rakuten’s bold plans to democratize AI
- Chief AI & Data Officer Ting Cai unveils Rakuten AI strategy at Rakuten Optimism 2024
September
We launched “Rakuten Analytics,” an AI-powered platform providing businesses with deep customer insights for data-driven decision-making and targeted marketing. Corporate customers can use the insights gained from the platform’s analysis for ad delivery, marketing strategies targeting their own Rakuten member customers, product planning and more.
October
Rakuten Mobile announced a major upgrade to the Rakuten Link app with the launch of the Rakuten Link AI chat service. The service is designed to enhance the user experience and streamline mobile services, allowing users to better connect with Rakuten’s services through the free chat app.
November
Rakuten partnered with L’Oréal Japan to deliver AI-driven personalized beauty solutions and collaborated with Ampere Computing to improve data center efficiency, reducing energy consumption by 36%.
- Rakuten and L’Oréal Japan Partner to Elevate Customer Experiences in Beauty
- Rakuten and Ampere® Collaborate to Improve Data Center Efficiency for Sustainable AI Compute
We also hosted our 16th annual Rakuten Technology Conference to celebrate AI innovation with industry partners and attendees.
December
Building on the success of Rakuten AI 7B, we unveiled our new AI models optimized for Japanese speakers: Rakuten AI 2.0, the company’s first Japanese LLM based on a Mixture of Experts architecture, and Rakuten AI 2.0 mini, our first small language model. Both models are set to be released to the open-source community to empower companies and professionals developing AI applications by Spring 2025.
We also launched the AI-powered Rakuten Mobile Assistant 2.0 and received the Open Innovation Field IT Award for our contributions to Japanese AI technology through our first open LLM released earlier in the year.
- Rakuten Receives Open Innovation Field IT Award from Japan Institute of Information Technology’s 42nd IT Awards
- Rakuten Unveils New AI Models Optimized for Japanese
- Rakuten Mobile Unveils AI-powered Chat Assistant for 24/7 Customer Support
Additionally, we rolled out semantic search and recommendations for a total of 16 Rakuten businesses in Japan and beyond in 2024, significantly contributing to increased revenue through cutting-edge technology.
Finally, we launched the new blog and video series “Inside Rakuten AI,” offering audiences a deep dive into the people, ideas and tech behind our game-changing AI solutions.
That’s a wrap for Rakuten’s AI activities in 2024, an eventful year packed with groundbreaking AI achievements. And we are just getting started – stay tuned for more on the Rakuten AI front in 2025!
