Study team will think about AI legislation in the summer; Aims to increase competitiveness in related areas

The government plans to establish a new panel of experts charged with considering artificial intelligence legislation, which will focus on ensuring AI technology is used safely, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned .

This plan is included in a draft of the Cabinet’s Integrated Innovation Strategy 2024, an action plan drawn up annually to promote technological innovation. The government will probably approve this year’s innovation strategy in June.

The new panel, which was to be established this summer, has been tentatively named the “AI System Study Group.”

According to the draft, domestic investment is showing signs of expansion and the country faces its “last chance” to ensure that this “turning point” leads to sustainable growth. The draft indicated that the public and private sectors must make bold investments in research and development that will lead to economic growth.

At a time of increasingly severe labor shortages, the draft points out that greater automation and labor efficiency through AI and robotics are “urgent tasks” and highlights that the social implementation of these technologies will accelerate.

The draft also recognizes that the development of generative AI poses risks, including the spread of false information and increasingly sophisticated crimes. Accordingly, the draft clearly states that the new study group will explore how an AI legislative system should look and work.

In the European Union and the United States, steps to establish legal regulations have been accelerating. On May 22, the Japanese government showed its intention to discuss AI legislation during a meeting of the AI ​​Strategy Council. The new study group would be established under this council. This group is expected to investigate regulations that include major AI developers and AI that is misused to fuel discrimination or prejudice or to commit crimes or acts of terrorism.

The draft included a plan to encourage the public and private sectors to work closely together on cutting-edge research and development designed to ensure AI can be used safely. This would include technologies that prevent “hallucinations,” which are generative AI-created outputs that appear real but do not exist.

Other issues that have emerged include the spread of fake advertisements on social media using the names and images of prominent figures. The draft called for research and development of technologies to address these problems, as well as pursuing “comprehensive measures” such as further promoting fact-checking.