27-Year-Old Female Diver Overcomes Hotel Pool Accident, Giving Birth to the 'AI of Hospitality' [Japanese Side]

Omoyel Founder Rie Sasaki
Youngest Manager at Microsoft Japan, Created AI "Rinna"
Started a New Business for "AI of Hospitality" After Leaving the Company

These days, stories about artificial intelligence (AI) are truly the trend. It seems like there is nothing AI can't do anymore. Recently in Japan, an interview with a female leader active in AI-related businesses has become a hot topic. At 27, she became the youngest manager at Microsoft Japan, and since then, she has been thriving with her own business. Today, we bring you the story of Rie Sasaki, the founder of the AI company Omoyel.

From a young age, Sasaki was very interested in science and entered the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Jochi University, known for its fuel cell research. Influenced by her father, who developed rockets, she wanted to become a researcher herself and thought about going to graduate school. However, she realized that to make a social impact as a researcher, one needs to accumulate experience over a long period, and she wanted to change society faster through the power of technology. Because of this, she decided not to attend graduate school and prepared for employment, eventually joining Microsoft Japan.

Ms. Rie Sasaki, featured on the OMOEL website. OMOEL.

In her fifth year at the company, 2017, she won eight internal awards at Microsoft, and the following year, at the young age of 27, she was promoted to the youngest manager. After that, she became the leader of a team responsible for introducing consulting and IT services to companies. She had to lead 15 members, all older than her, with 90% being experienced professionals in their 40s and 50s. Because of this, she was very flustered at first and worried whether they might underestimate her as just a young person.

To overcome this, she actively held one-on-one meetings with all team members and assigned tasks considering their personalities and strengths, disregarding age or position. She deliberately showed only her dedication to work by coming to work in a suit with her hair tied back, avoiding any external factors. She worked hard to instill the perception that it was not a hierarchy but just different roles. Then, she started gaining recognition from key members of the team. She believed that if the core members trusted her, the others would also evaluate her highly. Gradually, the members began to acknowledge her.

As she built her career, Sasaki joined Microsoft's high school AI project called "Rinna." Some may know Rinna; it was an AI released in Japan that debuted as an idol and even sang songs. It was an AI chatbot with a high school girl concept. At first, it was unimaginable that it would sing and converse like it does now, but she was attracted by the potential of AI chatbots and joined the project. The goal was to build an emotional bond with humans beyond a simple information-delivery chatbot. Later, Sasaki's department spun off from Microsoft to continue this business independently, founding the company named after the AI, "RINNA."

The AI project "Rinna" led by Mr. Sasaki. Rinna homepage.

Sasaki focused on how to monetize Rinna's intelligence and devoted herself to creating new services. Nevertheless, what she always thought about was the role of humans in the AI era. When considering what is needed in a world where humans and AI coexist, she concluded that 'hospitality' was something AI could hardly replace. She believed that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it is still difficult for it to understand the subtle parts of the human heart. This led her to consider AI businesses related to hospitality.

This was triggered by a hardship she faced during her successful period at age 27. In an interview covered by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) Woman, she explained that while attending a Microsoft awards ceremony overseas and spending a week there, she slipped on a marble floor on her way to the hotel pool after the schedule ended, fracturing her nasal bone and maxilla. Her face swelled, and the long rehabilitation made her realize how fleeting life is and how everything she had built could collapse in an instant. Because of this, she started thinking about businesses that help people, which led her to focus on employment. She wanted to create a fair recruitment site that satisfies both job seekers and companies.

Thus, Omoyel decided to create a recruitment platform for the beauty industry. While general university students can attend over 40 company briefings during the job hunting season and review multiple options, it is difficult for beauticians to do so. They have to visit salons one by one, which is laborious, and there is little publicly available recruitment information, so they rely on word of mouth, making it a relatively disadvantaged market.

To solve this, leveraging her experience in AI technology development, she created a recruitment platform where job seekers can, with a single click, access information about salons currently hiring and apply for visits, minimizing risks. It is scheduled to launch in 2025. According to Nikkei Woman, Sasaki is considering expanding into various industries such as restaurants, hotel staff, and nursing in the future.

At the end of the interview, she said, "I want to raise the happiness index of society as a whole by creating a world where AI and hospitality are fused." In fact, Omoyel's self-introduction states that it was established "to create a world where each individual is recognized as a star."

These days, AI evolution like DeepSeek is progressing at a frightening speed. Amid fears that AI might one day replace humans, it is fascinating to hear about AI development that rather focuses on humanity.