According to an official close to the deliberations, Japan is considering adopting less strict regulations on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) compared to the European Union. The country sees AI as a means to stimulate economic growth and become a leader in advanced chips.
According to an unidentified official, the goal by the end of the year is to develop an AI approach that is more aligned with the US perspective rather than the strict regulations supported by the EU, as reported by Reuters.
The adoption of a more lenient Japanese stance may impede the EU’s efforts to establish its regulations as a global standard. This includes the imposition of guidelines that mandate companies to disclose copyrighted material utilized in training AI systems that produce content such as text and graphics.
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Thierry Breton, the EU industry chief, is currently in Tokyo to promote the bloc’s approach to AI rule-making and strengthen cooperation in semiconductors.
The government official provided limited information on potential differences between Japan’s rules and those of the EU.
Prof. Yutaka Matsuo, the chair of the government’s AI strategy council at The University of Tokyo, expressed concerns about the strictness of the EU’s rules, stating that it is challenging to identify copyrighted material used for deep learning.
“With the EU, the issue is less about how to promote innovation and more about making already large companies take responsibility,” said Matsuo, who also chairs the Japan Deep Learning Association and is an independent director on the board of Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group.
