Search

This paper examines how AI ethics has been developed at the national level in Japan, and what this process reveals about broader Japanese state imaginaries of how advanced technology should be developed and used, and what a future with these technologies should look like. Key developments in the Japanese government's approach to AI ethics and governance between 2014 and 2023 are laid out, based on an analysis of official reports and policy documents supplemented by data collected via semi-structured interviews with three expert members of the committees that formulated several key sets of ethical principles. The paper considers Japan's positioning in the global race to develop AI ethics principles over this period, as well as the imaginary of AI within the wider historical context of imaginaries about the knowledge society in Japan. I suggest three ways in which AI ethics has been understood and instrumentalized in the Japanese context, and argue that the main methodology used to date—ELSI—complements the government's utopian and techno-determinist imaginaries of the future while concealing a deeply conservative approach that serves to reproduce structural inequalities and discrimination despite the apparent internationalism and progressive values that are repeatedly expressed in state-promoted ethical principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision Intelligence is a methodology that integrates complex systems, machine learning, and decision analysis. It is increasingly interested in finding optimal solutions to the uncertainties noted in machine learning in today's complex AI systems. Furthermore, Decision Intelligence is a new engineering discipline that augments data science with theories from various sciences. Since decisions are made in all kinds of situations, they will become even more critical in a wide range of academic fields in the future. This paper introduces the ideas of proponents of Decision Intelligence, the promotion of digital decisioning toward automation, and trends in Western companies and Japan. Then, using risk management procedures, our examination of methods to ensure safety in the case of automated driving will be described. In addition, I will describe the challenges of each technology that promotes Decision Intelligence. I will also introduce a new synchronous AI that I am currently working on with the inventor of the challenge. This algorithm generation method is based on a metaphysical view of the synchronous nature of life activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology is reshaping workplaces by enabling spatial separation of offices, known as telework, or remote intelligence (RI) and by facilitating automation of service sector tasks via artificial intelligence (AI). This paper is the first attempt to empirically investigate whether AI and RI are complements or substitutes in the service sector. It uses a worker‐level panel of surveys collected from around 10,000 workers from pre‐COVID‐19 pandemic to late 2022. We find preliminary evidence that suggests that AI and RI are complements rather than substitutes. The evidence comes first from the positive correlation of investments in AI‐promoting and RI‐promoting software at the firm and worker level, and second from the positive correlation of workers' expectations regarding telework and software automation. The evidence is far from definitive but suggests that the complement‐substitution question is a fruitful line for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to the Japanese Patent Act introduces a system for the filing of amicus briefs specifically in patent infringement suits. The change in business and industry models brought by emerging ICTs such as AI and IoT necessitates this change. By broadening the stakeholders and calling for more expertise, ICTs require an expansion of input by outsiders to advise legal decision-making. This paper examines the issues discussed during the process of amendment, especially with respect to the conditions set on the filing of amicus briefs, and considers insights on these issues offered by the experience of third-party submissions and amicus curiae submissions under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The conclusion raises broader implications for adapting legal frameworks to accommodate the complex and rapidly changing society brought by the development of ICTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An illness script is a specific script format geared to represent patient-oriented clinical knowledge organized around enabling conditions, faults (i.e., pathophysiological process), and consequences. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) stands out as an educational aid in continuing medical education. The effortless creation of a typical illness script by generative AI could help the comprehension of key features of diseases and increase diagnostic accuracy. No systematic summary of specific examples of illness scripts has been reported since illness scripts are unique to each physician. Objective: This study investigated whether generative AI can generate illness scripts. Methods: We utilized ChatGPT-4, a generative AI, to create illness scripts for 184 diseases based on the diseases and conditions integral to the National Model Core Curriculum in Japan for undergraduate medical education (2022 revised edition) and primary care specialist training in Japan. Three physicians applied a three-tier grading scale: "A" denotes that the content of each disease's illness script proves sufficient for training medical students, "B" denotes that it is partially lacking but acceptable, and "C" denotes that it is deficient in multiple respects. Results: By leveraging ChatGPT-4, we successfully generated each component of the illness script for 184 diseases without any omission. The illness scripts received "A," "B," and "C" ratings of 56.0% (103/184), 28.3% (52/184), and 15.8% (29/184), respectively. Conclusion: Useful illness scripts were seamlessly and instantaneously created using ChatGPT-4 by employing prompts appropriate for medical students. The technology-driven illness script is a valuable tool for introducing medical students to key features of diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In inclusive education, students with different needs learn in the same context. With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, it is expected that they will contribute further to an inclusive learning environment that meets the individual needs of diverse learners. However, in Japan, we did not find any studies exploring current needs in an actual special needs context. In this study, we used the learning and evidence analysis framework (LEAF) as a learning analytics-enhanced learning environment and employed Active Reading as an example learning task to investigate the challenges and possibilities of applying AI to inclusive education in the future. Two students who attended a resource room formed the context. We investigated learning logs in the LEAF system while each student executed a given learning task. We detected specific learning behaviors from the logs and explored the challenges and future potential of learning with AI technology, considering human involvement in orchestrating inclusive educational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil society organizations have warned that if "lethal autonomous weapons systems" (LAWS) are created, such weapons would cause serious problems with regards to human rights. Although "fully autonomous" weapons do not exist at this stage, several countries are thought to have developed "semi-autonomous" weapons equipped with artificial intelligence. LAWS related issues have been a part of international discussions in the United Nations, and the Japanese government has actively participated in these conferences. Japanese politicians have also discussed issues related to LAWS in the National Diet since 2015. This article provides multiple paradigms of Japan's policy toward LAWS from the perspectives of international relations theory, and attempts to explore possible solutions to the international regulation of LAWS in international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]