Line AI

LINE AI

LINE AI is a new feature in LINE, Japan’s most widely used communication app, officially launched on April 15, 2025. It brings generative AI into everyday messaging—letting users ask questions, create images, and get smart reply suggestions with tone adjustments from polite to playful.
By embedding AI into a platform people already use daily, LINE lowers the barrier for those unfamiliar or unsure about AI. For brands and creators, it’s a signal that AI is becoming part of mainstream communication—not as a separate tool, but as an integrated layer of user experience.
To start making use of it, just go to the LINE Home Screen and select the LINE AI button on the left, or add LINE AI as friend here.

Other News

  • Micro News

Yahoo! Shopping products can now be tagged in YouTube videos
LINE Yahoo announced on September 25 that Yahoo! Shopping has joined the YouTube Shopping affiliate program (MarkeZine, September 25). Eligible YouTube creators can tag Yahoo! Shopping products in videos and Shorts. Viewers tap the tag and land on the product page. Stores pay a base rate of 2–4% by category and can add a special rate of their own. YouTube says shopping-video watch time in Japan grew more than 50% year on year (internal data, April 2026).

For foreign brands in Japan, this puts Yahoo! Shopping on the same creator shelf as Amazon and Rakuten. Creators choose the store with the higher rate. Set a special rate on your hero SKUs before Q4.

▶ MarkeZine (September 25)

Yahoo_Shopping_Products_tagged_in_YouTube_video
  • Micro News

Survey: 52.3% of Japanese respondents search with generative AI
52.3% of 9,278 respondents aged 15–69 use generative AI, including Google AI Mode, for search (AdverTimes, September 9; fielded August 7–10). The figure was 21.3% in May 2025. 58.7% say an AI recommendation led to a purchase. One survey, one vendor, but the direction is consistent with earlier waves.

For foreign brands in Japan, the AI answer is becoming a purchase touchpoint. Check how ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Mode describe your products in Japanese before Q4.

▶ AdverTimes (September 9, 2026)

Japanese Consumers Search on Generative Engines
  • Micro News

OpenAI added product carousels to ChatGPT ads, showing several items in a single ad slot.
The format arrived three months after OpenAI let retailers bulk-create product-feed campaigns.

OpenAI’s system decides whether a query returns a single-product ad or a carousel — the advertiser does not choose. For brands in Japan, that moves the work upstream to the product feed. Japanese product names, prices, and stock status decide what appears. Audit the feed before year-end trading.

▶ DIGIDAY Japan, August 17, 2026.

ChatGPT Carousel mock-up
  • Blog

LINE for Luxury & Fashion Brands in Japan: The 2026 CRM Playbook — first-party data, clienteling, and segmentation over reach.

Line icon on smartphone