Rakuten Advertising Launches Mirai, Affiliate Marketing's First Advanced AI Optimization Agent

Initial capabilities enhance creation of affiliate offers and optimize them for peak performance in real time

NEW YORK and SAN MATEO, Calif., May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading performance intelligence partner Rakuten Advertising launched Mirai, an advanced conversational AI agent for streamlining and optimizing affiliate campaign management for advertisers. The launch reflects Rakuten Advertising's continued focus on developing proprietary AI capabilities that deliver smarter, more scalable tools for advertisers.

Mirai enables advertisers to build and manage strategic affiliate offers through natural conversation. Where traditional affiliate management tools require manual configuration and technical overhead, Mirai reduces friction at every stage of the process by giving advertisers a direct path from business objective to execution, with the platform handling the complexity behind the scenes.

Paired with program insight and dynamic commissioning, Mirai reimagines how advertisers configure and act on commission structures in three distinct ways:

• Strategic Guidance & Reporting: Analyzes specific business objectives to recommend optimal commission structures.
• Simplified Complexity: Enables asynchronous, autonomous code generation in real time, handling advanced logic and backend configuration without manual intervention.
• Tailored Efficiency: By processing natural language requests, Mirai automates key details, such as dates for holiday promotions and sales moments unique to each advertiser, enabling teams to move with greater precision.

"Rakuten Advertising's goal has always been clear: make advertisers more effective, not just more efficient," said Adam Rostan, Chief Product Officer, Rakuten Advertising. "Mirai is years of investment in AI made real, and it gives advertisers something the industry has not had before: a product that applies strategic intelligence to the everyday work of managing affiliate programs. This is a new chapter for what we can deliver, and what is available today is just the beginning."

Rakuten Advertising plans to grow Mirai alongside advertiser needs, with upcoming capabilities set to extend its role across the full program lifecycle, from partner identification and recruitment to performance optimization and reporting. The goal is for Mirai to function as a seamless extension of advertising teams that handles the operational load so they can focus on strategy and growth.

Affiliate offer creation and management is available in Mirai today, with additional capabilities to be announced in the coming months. For more information, visit www.RakutenAdvertising.com.

About Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising delivers performance-driven, brand-driven, and people-driven ad solutions that help the world's top brands connect with unique, highly engaged audiences – from first impression to final sale. Backed by industry-leading technology, global media properties, and the largest, high-quality partner network, Rakuten Advertising taps into data and experience to develop the strategies and ad experiences that will drive engagement, sales, loyalty, and beyond.

A leader in the industry since its beginnings, Rakuten Advertising is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world's leading internet service companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices throughout EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and North America. Learn more at RakutenAdvertising.com.

Media Contact:
Carol Lee
Rakuten
[email protected]

SOURCE Rakuten Advertising