LINE Yahoo Launches Agent i Biz, a Free AI Agent That Helps Smaller Businesses Run Ads and LINE Accounts
LINE Yahoo on October 27 began offering Agent i Biz, an AI agent for businesses that helps with day-to-day advertising and promotion work, the company announced and the Nikkei reported. Staff type questions into a dedicated web app in everyday language, and the agent draws on LINE Yahoo’s search statistics, ad delivery results and LINE Official Account data to analyse markets and customers and propose next steps. The service is free for the time being, although access depends on meeting certain conditions in the company’s Business Manager.
The first release covers four jobs: market and customer analysis using statistical search data; summaries of LINE Official Account performance, such as friend additions and message open and response rates, with ideas for the next campaign; reviews of LINE Yahoo ad results with pointers on what to improve; and answers about ad standards and account guidelines drawn from official documents. At a press conference in Minato Ward, Tokyo, a senior executive officer said the company wants to provide whatever support businesses need without being bound by the idea of advertising.
LINE Yahoo plans to add a dedicated LINE Official Account for the agent and to connect it through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to companies’ own AI agents and internal systems, with the aim of moving from suggestions to carrying out measures such as building ad delivery lists and setting budgets. From November, LINE Official Accounts will also gain a function that lets AI respond to users and send messages based on birthdays or purchase history, starting with companies in job search, used cars and restaurant reservations.
What it means in practice
The main target is small and mid-sized firms that lack staff and specialist knowledge. According to the Nikkei, LINE Yahoo’s sales teams currently support only a few thousand companies, and the agent is meant to extend that support to hundreds of thousands. Agent i is the brand that merged the Yahoo! JAPAN AI Assistant and LINE AI. The launch adds a domestic platform giant to a crowded field of agents in Japan, from Meta’s Muse, which arrived with Mercari and Money Forward ME links, to Knowledge Work’s sales AI agents.
The open questions are how quickly the promised automatic execution arrives and how advertisers will keep control once an agent can change budgets on their behalf. LINE Yahoo describes the move as developing its Connect One concept, which links LINE Official Accounts, ads and search, into a broader business OS with AI built in.