OpenAI Considers Expansion To Japan With ChatGPT AI

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (photo: twitter @kantei)

JAKARTA - Sam Altman, Chief Executive of OpenAI, said that he is considering opening an office and expanding services in Japan after meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan. Altman and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed technological advances and the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as risks including privacy and copyright infringement.

Japan will evaluate the possibility of adopting artificial intelligence-enabled technologies such as ChatGPT by OpenAI when weighing the benefits and risks. However, Japanese cabinet official, Hirokazu Matsuno added that Japan would consider adopting artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT if privacy and cybersecurity concerns can be resolved.

Altman also expressed his wish that Japan could play a role in the adoption and regulation of AI as a geopolitical power. He hopes to build something big for Japanese society, improving the model for the Japanese language and culture.

"We hope to build something big for Japanese society, fixing the model for Japanese language and culture," Altman told reporters after meeting with Kishida. His visit to Japan is his first international trip since the launch of ChatGPT.

As reported by Reuters, Taro Kono, Cabinet Minister in charge of Japan's digital transformation, expressed hope that AI technology will "greatly contribute" to government work reform. However, he said that it was difficult to quickly adopt ChatGPT in government offices because of problems such as machine-generated fake information.

Kono hopes the April 29-30 G7 Digital Ministers meeting in Japan will discuss AI technologies including ChatGPT and issue "a joint message from the G7". Japan will continue to evaluate the possibility of adopting AI to reduce the workload of government employees after evaluating how to respond to issues such as data breaches.