Japanese electronics retailer Nojima is developing AI version of its president for employee use

Nojima Corp., an electronics store chain, has developed an artificial intelligence program that acts as an avatar of the president, the company said.

The generative AI is trained on President Hiroshi Nojima’s books and past remarks. When Nojima employees ask the program for advice on their computers or smartphones, the AI ​​avatar responds on behalf of the president.

The company said the program will be used to boost human resources.

The program was jointly developed with Happiness Planet Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. In addition to President Nojima’s books, the AI ​​was trained on the content of his lectures and the company’s internal bulletins, so that the AI’s responses can reflect the president’s life philosophy and management principles.

For example, if someone enters, “I’m worried about how to train a subordinate who made a mistake,” the AI ​​will respond, “It’s important to pay attention not only to the outcome, but also to the efforts and attempts in the process,” along with the source from which the answer came.

The AI ​​will initially be rolled out to around 2,000 executives, with the company planning to roll it out to all employees, including those in its group companies, later.

“It’s hard to get ideas across. I thought it would be helpful to have a system that can provide answers when employees run into trouble,” President Nojima said at the news conference.