The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is completely transforming business activities and our lifestyles. With the advent of AI agents in 2025, Hakuhodo considers "conversations" with these AI agents as the key to unleashing new sei-katsu-sha* questions and latent aspirations.
Creativity in the era of AI agents rests with "conversations"
This article summarizes opening remarks by Hakuhodo Representative Director & President Kenji Nagura at Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market Forum 2025, held recently on the theme "Let's Sit Down and Talk to Reimagine the World: Sei-katsu-sha Value Design in the AI Agent Era."

The Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market takes a quantum leap forward with AI

This sixth iteration of the Forum, entitled "Let's Sit Down and Talk to Reimagine the World," reflects our passion for working with everyone toward a more intriguing world through conversations with AI agents.

Championed by Hakuhodo from six years ago, the Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market points to a world where the evolution of digital technology effectively expands the possibilities for exciting experiences and services by connecting sei-katsu-sha (our term for the holistic person) and companies, with everything in the living environment, from automobiles and home electric appliances to housing, serving as new touchpoints.

Through sei-katsu-sha interfaces, companies are now able to precisely understand the needs of sei-katsu-sha and thus can deliver the right services and experiences at the right time. This expansion of new touchpoints with sei-katsu-sha is creating unprecedented businesses and markets one after another.

To cite a few examples, LoCoPi Asahimachi, a service provided by the municipality of Asahimachi in Toyama Prefecture, uses the My Number Card (national ID card) to enable payments to be made in the community currency with reward points, and also to receive evacuees in the event of disaster. This system provides residents with a "new normal," characterized by an opportunity to shop for local products, as well as security in emergency situations.

Next, Pan Pacific International Holdings (PPIH), owner of the Don Quijote discount stores, has developed a system to allow customers to participate directly in product development and service improvement by collecting feedback from customers through Maji Voice, its product review service.

Also, West Japan Railway Company has established DotHealth OSAKA, a health-check space at a station, offering sei-katsu-sha a new, convenient way to manage their health including measuring skin age and brain health.

And we at Hakuhodo have developed a service that addresses labor shortages and delivers customer experiences that improve satisfaction by leveraging virtual sales staff as an interface and sharing online conversation histories with sales staff at offline stores. This service is already in the pilot phase.

Moreover, AI will now enable the Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market to take a quantum leap forward. The explosive growth of generative AI since last year has made it an indispensable partner and interlocutor at work, for study and for entertainment.

The latest survey conducted by the Human-Centered AI Institute, the AI research arm of Hakuhodo DY Holdings, found that heavy generative AI users are beginning to recognize AI not as a simple tool but as a partner in creative conversations, agreeing with statements like: An answer given by generative AI has given me a new perspective or idea; and I have consulted generative AI about something I couldn't talk to anyone about.

AI agents to serve as new sei-katsu-sha interfaces

Now we are experiencing another wave of AI technology, centered on AI agents. AI agents, which are software that uses AI technology, are characterized by their ability to autonomously perform complicated tasks, rather than simply executing instructions given by humans.

At Hakuhodo, too, we also believe that AI agents, serving as new sei-katsu-sha interfaces, might fundamentally alter society.

Such discontinuous changes in society will be driven by countless conversations with sei-katsu-sha.

Through conversations, AI agents can identify latent needs of sei-katsu-sha that they do not even notice and take them to places that they have never thought of. The time will come when AI agents co-perform tasks as invaluable partners in every aspect, from living to information and workstyle.

In the near future, the Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market will grow rapidly and substantially, driven by AI agents, thus opening the door to the creation of new value and business opportunities. This exciting future awaits us.

New services will emerge when companies take the initiative in developing their own AI agents based on their proprietary information to have conversations with sei-katsu-sha.

For example, when asked about how to spend a weekend with a partner, the AI agent of an apparel company would recommend an outfit and a dating plan. The AI agent developed by a financial service company might propose an optimal investment plan, when fed with information on one's income and assets, as well as hopes and fears about the future. Consulted on a trip, the AI agent of a car manufacturer would propose the best spots that meet your interests and preferences, along with a recommended itinerary.

In short, conversations with AI agents become actual conversations between companies and sei-katsu-sha, and can take place anywhere, any time and with anyone.

We will also see the birth of services that supply AI agents to sei-katsu-sha to serve as their personal agents. A sei-katsu-sha AI agent will understand your interests and preferences and autonomously perform relevant tasks ranging from information gathering to product comparison, negotiation and purchase. A service available in the United States already features a personal AI agent that proposes suitable outfits and performs everything necessary up to purchase on your behalf.

Conventionally, sei-katsu-sha interfaces served as touchpoints, delivering interactive experiences for sei-katsu-sha. Going forward, countless conversations will materialize as AI agents integrating companies' business activities and services play the role of a sei-katsu-sha interface. From these conversations there will emerge an infinite number of new desires and experiences among sei-katsu-sha.

And that is how the new Sei-katsu-sha Interface Market will look in the future.

Creating surprising, exciting experiences with AI agents

AI agents will usher in an era, overhauling conventional marketing activities and completely reinventing the way we do business. This requires ways to reach sei-katsu-sha premised on the use of AI agents and new approaches to marketing.

I believe that Hakuhodo, with its Sei-katsu-sha Insight philosophy, is in a position to create a future filled with surprises and excitement by working with AI agents. We are committed to designing sei-katsu-sha value for the new era by fully supporting the development of AI agents and the marketing planning that will be required in the new era.

Identifying emerging changes in the attitudes of sei-katsu-sha is Hakuhodo's defining capability. The advent of "new sei-katsu-sha" who live through conversations with AI agents will make it crucial to find the right kind of AI that sei-katsu-sha feel comfortable talking to, which we will do by leveraging our sei-katsu-sha insight.

Human-Centered AI is the core concept of AI development at the Hakuhodo DY Group, culminating in the establishment of the Human-Centered AI Institute (HCAI Institute) in April 2024. We are conducting a wide variety of R&D projects on using AI to make life more convenient and society more prosperous.

As an example, last year we introduced an AI agent that has learned the concept development method advocated by Takahiro Hosoda, Creative Director at TBWA\HAKUHODO, to facilitate our work company-wide.

This AI agent, fed with the marketing challenges the client wants addressed and the briefing content, is now able to propose a concept based on the insight-driven story framework advocated by Hosoda, through conversations with humans.

This tool is already being used to organize workshops for clients, and has prompted feedback such as: "It made my very first concept work much easier;" and "Something co-produced with AI can be shared more easily, resulting in unexpected discoveries."

In a world where sei-katsu-sha and companies spend much time with AI agents, new types of needs and curiosity will emerge from unexpected interactions, leading to infinite encounters and experiences throughout society.

We are on the cusp of a future where sei-katsu-sha's unconscious desires will be unleashed through conversations with AI agents, and people will feel exhilarated by the opportunity to chase their dreams driven by even more human inspiration.

There will also be countless business opportunities. Our Sei-katsu-sha Value Design is ready to help clients seize such opportunities through collaboration. As AI agents develop into new sei-katsu-sha interfaces, with the dramatic evolution of marketing and business, Hakuhodo stands ready to support the creation of exciting experiences with our sei-katsu-sha insight and creativity.

• "Sei-katsu-sha" is a term we use to describe people not simply as consumers, but as fully rounded individuals with their own lifestyles, aspirations and dreams.