Microsoft Japan chief sees country accelerating use of AI

(Bloomberg) — Japan has been one of the fastest countries to adopt the use of new artificial intelligence tools and has the potential to accelerate its economy and technology sector by going further, according to Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka .

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The country’s digitalization drive gained a boost during the pandemic as companies adapted to new work-from-home arrangements, and Tsusaka believes Japan has made up lost ground after previously being a laggard.

“The Japanese caught up. And I think it will continue to accelerate at this point because technology allows things that we can’t do,” Tsusaka said in an interview. “We don’t have enough people, our population is aging, and yet generative AI has the power to accelerate growth.”

Microsoft Corp. executive said she is particularly interested in helping to empower more women in the local workforce. It is one of the US company’s four areas of focus in Japan, led by an investment of US$2.9 billion over the next two years to expand its AI data centers in the country.

The announcement of this new financing in April raised the country’s industrial and utility shares due to expectations of increased energy demand. The country’s growing energy needs have prompted Tokyo’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to pressure local authorities to restart the country’s — and the world’s — largest nuclear power plant.

Tsusaka identified cybersecurity as another key priority because “you cannot use AI without security. It’s safety, safety, safety. And then you can use AI.” Microsoft works closely with the Japanese government – ​​both nationally and locally – and with businesses to ensure technology is implemented responsibly and securely, she said. Still, she sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of technology.

“We were all amazed when the internet arrived,” she said. “Mobile phones are now part of our body. But I believe that generative AI is a technological revolution that surpasses all of this.”

–With help from Takashi Mochizuki.

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