Japan has a curious and powerful program: Furusato Nozei, which lets taxpayers redirect part of their taxes to municipalities they want to support. It sounds simple, but between income-based limits, tax credits, and a catalog with hundreds of thousands of “thank-you gifts,” the experience can overwhelm you.

Can you imagine choosing among 760,000 products when you only want to support your favorite town? That’s where AI comes in to make the process more human and less chaotic.

What TRUSTBANK did with AI

TRUSTBANK, the company behind the Furusato Choice platform, added AI to help people find donations and gifts they actually care about. They didn’t have an in-house AI expert team, so they partnered with Recursive, now an official OpenAI partner, and used the OpenAI API to build Choice AI.

The idea is simple: instead of wandering aimlessly through thousands of options, you chat with the app and the AI recommends gifts based on your preferences, budget, and context. Looking for something for your parents? Want to support a specific town? Even a vague phrase can be enough for the AI to suggest relevant options.