Rakuten hosted two-day intensive Codex workshop in Tokyo with OpenAI
Agentic AI capabilities are advancing exponentially – here’s how Rakuten’s employees are staying ahead of the curve.
As the capabilities of agentic AI rapidly advance, companies embracing AI are continuing to upskill employees with the latest technologies. But how can organizations ensure employees across the business are unlocking the full potential of the powerful AI agents at their disposal?
As part of its ongoing work with OpenAI, Rakuten recently hosted a second in-person workshop at its Tokyo headquarters with OpenAI. This two-day intensive training aimed to offer employees – both engineers and non-engineers – hands-on guidance for working with OpenAI’s AI agent, Codex. Here, Rakuten employees had a focused space to master Codex in their real workflows through live demos, usage tips, and hands-on practice alongside the OpenAI team.
Beyond software development, Codex is designed to work across files, tools and repeatable workflows to help accelerate a wide range of tasks. From pulling information across communications channels, notes, and dashboards, to developing presentation slides from source materials, to creating a digital assistant to help organize your day, its capabilities offer value to employees across every discipline.
Day one: building the foundation
To kick off the workshop, the OpenAI team opened the floor to a discussion on how Rakuten’s engineers are using Codex today in their daily workflows, and shared live demos of some of the Codex’s latest features. This was followed by a hands-on building session that let employees put theory into practice and build agents with capabilities ranging from task automation to app development. Employees worked side-by-side with the OpenAI team, engaging directly, asking questions, and receiving guidance.
A separate session was reserved for non-engineers looking to put this new technology to work in their own roles. The OpenAI team demonstrated key Codex use cases across disciplines including sales, data analytics, and product management.
“Through these workshops, I hope our employees get an idea of how we can accelerate Rakuten’s mission for AI-nization,” shared Kaji Yusuke, General Manager of AI for Business at Rakuten. “For engineers, it means learning to manage the loop and shifting focus from writing code themselves to letting AI get things done more autonomously. For non-engineers, it means learning that building software is more accessible – if you can describe clearly what you want, you can build it.”
Day two: digging deeper
On the second day of the workshop, advanced users dug deeper into Codex’s capabilities, learning how to build and maintain complex, reliable software at scale. Rather than relying on one-off prompts and repeated guidance, the OpenAI team showed how to build automations that run on a regular cadence, integrating repeatedly into their workflows for greater, more consistent value.
The centerpiece of the day was the Clinic – 15-minute one-on-one slots where teams could sit down directly with the OpenAI team to talk through their specific setup, challenges, and goals. Demand for these slots was high, and spaces were limited, so employees were offered an additional Office Hours block at the end of the day, giving everyone who wanted direct access to the OpenAI team a chance to get their questions answered. Regardless of technical background, every attendee left with Codex configured and a working sense of how to use it.
“The focus of this workshop is to give Rakuten teams hands-on experience with how AI can be integrated into their workflow,” shared Derek Feriancek, Codex Deployed Engineer at OpenAI. “Rather than treating AI as a standalone tool, we want participants to explore how AI can support their everyday work, making them move faster and work more efficient – in a responsible way.”
What we learned
Engagement was strong across both days. Colleagues came in with real use cases and workflows already in hand, which made the hands-on sessions and consultations far more actionable than a typical training session – people weren’t just learning about Codex in the abstract, they were figuring out how to apply it to problems they were already working on. The one-on-one Clinic and Office Hours slots proved especially valuable, giving teams direct access to OpenAI’s own experts to sharpen their approach and troubleshoot in real time.
Accelerating AI-nization across Rakuten Group
Workshops like this are a key part of how Rakuten is scaling AI adoption across the organization. Pairing direct guidance from industry leaders such as OpenAI with hands-on practice tailored to both technical and non-technical audiences, lowers the barrier to entry and gives more teams the confidence and skills to bring AI into their daily workflows. The strong turnout and direct engagement with the OpenAI team reflect the kind of leadership support and open dialogue that helps AI adoption take hold across an organization – not as a top-down mandate, but as something teams actively want to explore and use daily.
