Preface to the English translation
Japan is facing the super-aging of society and it is estimated that by 2025, more than 35 million
people (about 30% of the population) will be over 65 years old. Under such circumstances, it is often
said that the Japanese are more optimistic about introducing artificial intelligence (AI) and robots to theworkplace, in contrast with other countries, who are more concerned about the possibility of machines
taking over jobs currently performed by human beings.
However, the workplace in Japan will not immediately be taken over by machines. Technology andsociety are mutually related, so we must closely examine how each research area is interacting withethical, legal, and social issues. In addition, experts in domains such as healthcare and agriculture arealso carefully reorganizing their tasks through the use of AI and robots and negotiating numerous
variables in the process, such as institutions, organizational cultures, economic efficiency, and humanvalues. These practices can be seen all over the world, not only in Japan; however, there is not as muchinformation on Japan’s practices in this regard due to the language barrier. We hope that this report willcontribute to an understanding of Japanese technological, institutional, cultural, and social aspects onAI and robotics.
The original report on this topic was published in Japanese as part of the Research Materials seriesof the “Science and Technology Research Project” of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau(RLRB), the National Diet Library. The RLRB is responsible for providing the Diet with legislative
research and information services and is an associate member of the European Parliamentary
Technology Assessment (EPTA), an international network of parliamentary science and technology
policy institutions. In the “Science and Technology Research Project,” the RLRB cooperates withoutside experts to conduct research on topics related to key national policy issues pertaining to scienceand technology. The results of the research are published and distributed to Diet members and otherrelevant parties, as well as to the general public online. The “Science and Technology Research Project”
aims to provide assistance for legislation, therefore, the information should be provided in ways that are
as objective and nonpartisan as possible, and without supporting any particular policy.
The report, “Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence/Robotics and Work/Employment,” was conducted
as a “Science and Technology Research Project” in FY2017 and was published in March 2018 inJapanese. In May 2018, policy seminar pertaining to the report was held for Diet members,
parliamentary staff, and others involved in the Diet.
The chairs of the report are members of a research group called Acceptable Intelligence withResponsibility (AIR: http://sig-air.org/), an ad hoc interdisciplinary network. The report was compiled
through the ongoing exchange of opinions among twenty-three authors of varied specialties andaffiliations. AIR activities include research and surveys, field studies, oral history projects and organizedevents. Some of the case studies of this report are the results of the AIR community. The English
translation is licensed by AIR and AIR takes full responsibility for the translation of the report. In the processof translation, authors were asked to replace Japanese references with English materials, as needed, for theconvenience of readers. Comments from readers and further collaborative research opportunities from boththe international and interdisciplinary realms are appreciated.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all authors for checking and adding information during the process of translating
the report into English. We also want to thank Takahiro Enoki and Masahiro Endo from the Research andLegislative Reference Bureau, the National Diet Library for their careful reading and advice for the Japaneseversion and for their support for the publication of the English translation. We are also eager to thank allinterviewees who participated in our case studies. We are also indebted to Mayumi Kawamura (each) for theattractive cover design. Finally, we are grateful to the Japan Science and Technology Agency ResearchInstitute of Science and Technology for Society (JST-RISTEX) for their support.
Arisa Ema and Hiromitsu Hattori