Japan is one of the countries that has been the fastest to embrace the use of new artificial intelligence tools and has the potential to accelerate its economy and technology sector by going further, said Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka.
The country’s digitalization drive gained momentum 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 have caught up. And I think it will continue to accelerate at this point because technology is making things possible that we haven’t been able to do yet,” 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.”
The CEO of Microsoft Corp. said she is especially interested in helping train more women into the local workforce. It is one of four focus areas of the American company in Japan, led by an investment of $2.9 billion over the next two years to scale up its AI data centers in the country.
The announcement of that new financing in April cancelled the nation’s utility and industrial stocks on expectations of rising energy demand. The countries rising energy needs have prompted Tokyo’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to lobby local officials about restarting the country’s – and the world’s – largest nuclear power plant.
Tsusaka mentioned cybersecurity as another key priority, because “you can’t use AI without security. It’s safety, safety, safety. And then you can use AI.” Microsoft is working closely with the Japanese government – both at the national and local levels – and companies to ensure technology is deployed responsibly and securely, she said. Yet she sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of technology.
“We were all in awe when the Internet came along,” she said. “Mobile phones are now part of our bodies. But in my opinion, generative AI is a technological revolution that surpasses all these aspects.”
