Rakuten AI Agent Offers Card Users Spending Insights

Users of the Rakuten Card Lite app can now get questions about their credit card statements answered by an artificial intelligence agent.

The new AI agent can summarize monthly spend amounts in chronological order, show selected statements within a designated period, and show estimated spending amounts for usage categories such as “supermarkets” or “restaurants,” Rakuten said in a Thursday (Feb. 19) press release.

The agent is available at no charge to all Rakuten Card members, and it can converse in both English and Japanese, according to the release. It was launched on Thursday.

Rakuten Card plans to expand the artificial intelligence agent service to its Japanese-language Rakuten Card app later this year, the release said. The company also plans to add more languages and enable the AI agent to answer a broader range of questions, including general service inquiries.

“Rakuten is promoting the use of AI in all aspects of its business to achieve further growth, as part of its ‘AI-nization’ initiative,” the company said in the release. “Going forward, the company will continuously improve and expand the capabilities of Rakuten AI, expanding its support to encompass even more of the Rakuten Ecosystem.”

Rakuten said in August 2025 that it is embedding its next-generation agentic AI platform across its ecosystem to transform its own operations while equipping merchants with advanced new capabilities.

In January 2025, the company said it expects that data gathered by its mobile business to help train AI will deliver benefits across the conglomerate’s operations.

Rakuten announced in another Thursday press release that it partnered with Google in Japan to enable users to purchase products from its online marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba, through YouTube videos.

This partnership in the YouTube Shopping affiliate program enables YouTube viewers to discover Rakuten Ichiba products featured by YouTube creators; tap on a View Products button during a video to see product names and prices; and navigate directly to the product page on Rakuten Ichiba, according to the release.

Ryo Matsumura, president of commerce and marketing company at Rakuten Group, said of the partnership: “We expect to provide our merchants with further business growth opportunities and deliver an even more enjoyable and convenient shopping experience to our users.”

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