[NEWS] Rakuten Group and OpenAI sign basic agreement to collaborate, aiming to improve user experience

On the 2nd, the Rakuten Group announced that it has reached a basic agreement to collaborate with the US company OpenAI. Rakuten will utilize OpenAI's AI technology to improve work efficiency by promoting its use across all services, revolutionizing the buying and selling experience of domestic and overseas consumers in the Rakuten Group. It also aims to contribute to improving the productivity of its business partners.

Rakuten has a vision of continuing to be a "global innovation company," and has developed more than 70 services in Japan and overseas, with approximately 1.7 billion users.

It provides a variety of services, including e-commerce, fintech, digital content, and communications, forming its own "Rakuten economic zone."

In a speech at the "Rakuten Optimism" event held in Yokohama, Rakuten Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said, "We will develop AI functions that will lead to improved business efficiency and user experience."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who also appeared remotely, also expressed his intention to provide Rakuten with the latest technology and support on a priority basis.

Altman is also known for launching the cryptocurrency WorldCoin (WLD), whose mainnet was recently launched.

The company has set up a system that reads the iris of the eye with a device called "Orb" to generate a unique ID, and its vision is to realize basic income through WorldCoin.

Rakuten will use the Group's "Rakuten AI" technology and knowledge to develop the generative AI "ChatGPT" product using OpenAI's plug-in architecture, and will work to make AI available through natural conversation in business applications such as research, data analysis, inventory optimization, pricing, and business automation.

Rakuten has already introduced ChatGPT. Since May of this year, it has been providing a chatbot function using ChatGPT in Japan on the calling app "Viber."

Rakuten Securities is also trialing an "Investment AI Assistant" that combines Rakuten's AI with its own AI, ChatGPT. It is a service that provides users with basic investment knowledge in the form of chat.

In his speech, Mikitani spoke passionately about "making it possible to provide AI that is easy for everyone to use."

Specific future developments have yet to be decided, but the company is considering using AI technologies such as OpenAI's ChatGPT to provide services that improve the operational efficiency of Rakuten Ichiba store owners, as well as to suggest recommended products to general users on its e-commerce site.

Reference: Announcement
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