Japan Govt to Support Vertical AI in 19 Strategic Fields

Tokyo, July 10 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government on Friday released an interim draft of its strategy for supporting the development and utilization of vertical artificial intelligence, or AI tailored for specific fields. In the draft presented at a meeting of the government’s AI Strategic Headquarters, headed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the government designated 19 fields, including drug development and police operations, for intensive support. The government will aim to realize so-called AI transformation, or the use of AI to improve operations, as part of efforts to address labor shortages and strengthen national power. “The public and private sectors will make intensive investment and strongly promote the development and implementation” of vertical AI, Takaichi said in the meeting. In the field of drug development, the government plans to set up a research institute that can be used jointly by AI and robotics companies and start-ups, and promote demonstration tests in which AI autonomously conducts drug discovery experiments. The government will build a system that enables police to automatically create relationship maps of persons of interest by analyzing a huge amount of investigation information on “tokuryu” loosely organized anonymous criminal groups. Other designated areas are manufacturing and shipbuilding, logistics and transportation, information and communications, finance, medical and nursing care and welfare, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, construction, education, public administration, energy, defense, disaster prevention, firefighting, cybersecurity, marine, space and scientific research. The meeting also adopted a revised basic plan for AI, which was drawn up as a guideline for AI policies by the government for the first time last year. The revised plan includes strengthening cybersecurity, citing the advent of high-performance AI. It is expected to be adopted at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]