Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Monday stated Japan will consider government adoption of artificial intelligence technology such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.
However, he stated the country can go ahead with this adoption if the privacy and security concerns are addressed.
The remarks by Matsuno, the top government spokesperson, came just days before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a visit to Japan, where Altman stated that his company is “looking at opening an office.”
“We hope to … build something great for Japanese people, make the models better for Japanese language and Japanese culture,” Altman told reporters after meeting with Kishida.
When asked about Italy’s temporary ban on ChatGPT, which was developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Matsuno said during a regular press conference that Japan is aware of other countries actions.
After assessing how to respond to concerns such as data breaches, Japan will continue to assess the feasibility of introducing AI to reduce the workload of government workers, according to Matsuno.
Following Italy’s restriction of ChatGPT, which prompted other European countries to investigate similar measures, OpenAI last week presented measures to the Italian regulator to address privacy concerns.