Our response to next-generation IT is coming into view

 ■Our response to next-generation IT is coming into view  

The CSIS-Nikkei Virtual Thinktank made the policy proposal that we should “aim to actualize the optimum society that has adapted to the next generation of IT”.

As this is consistent with my awareness of the problem, and is also closely related to my activities, I will take note of it.

The proposal argued that as the labor shortage worsens further, productivity increases through technological innovation are indispensable, and we should promote research and development “by constructing an institutional foundation with regard to AI and robots”.

The most important problem Japan is facing is the labor shortage, and the way we should deal with it is through the usage of AI and robots. I agree with this.

“Current legislation and systems do not adequately deal with the new issue of the possession of intellectual-property rights by AIs that have completed learning”

For this reason, the IP headquarters of the government have been holding a world-leading discussion on the issue of AI intellectual property for the past two years.

However, the indecisiveness of businesses cannot be blamed entirely on this.

The readiness of managers is needed at the same time as government responses.

“We must speed up the standardization of data standards and the preparation of a foundation for data trading”

The collection and use of big data are the key to the development of AI.

The preparation of IT infrastructure in the data trading market is important.

For this purpose, steps have started being taken to establish the Data Trading Alliance through cooperation among industry, government and academia.

“We need to strengthen cooperation among industry, government and academia, including by opening up data held by public institutions”

VLED is continuing its activities in order to promote open data through cooperation among industry, government and academia.

I am serving as a director of both the Data Trading Alliance and VLED.

“Consumers’ behavior is also shifting further from ‘possession to usage’”

Yes, the expansion of the sharing economy is also linked to increased efficiency in the economy, as well as the birth of new industries.

The preparation of an environment through “common regulations” created through cooperation among industry, government and academia is progressing with regard to the sharing economy as well.

Something I’ve just thought of here is that the proposal refers to “reforms in the way we work”, as well as supporting the “reallocation of skilled human resources”.

This is speaking of labor in addition to services in the context of “modularization”.

Modularizing labor, and placing it on the chopping board of the sharing economy? I agree.

The sharing economy is expanding from large items (homes [Airbnb], cars [Uber]) to small items (bicycles, fashion), as well as to people’s time and skills.

Time and skills are resources that all people have, and it is here that the greatest potential of the sharing economy is hidden.

This means subdividing and modularizing people’s time and skills, and making them tradable.

A structure that modularizes people’s time and skills - in other words, letting them wear four or five pairs of straw sandals, encouraging diverse side jobs, and making them sharable and tradable.

As someone who is loitering around in many pairs of straw sandals, my response to the spread of this way of working is “yes, what if everyone did that too?”

 “‘Requirements for face-to-face meetings or written documents and other social customs’ have been identified as a factor hindering increased productivity through digitization” “We need to carry out a ‘digital-first’ review that questions our regulations from a zero base, including the belief in face-to-face meetings or written documents that persists in all parts of society”

The government’s IT headquarters are taking measures, but they are moving slowly. I would like to do this one way or another.

 “We point out that ‘recurrent education’ for the currently working generation to relearn how to use AI is an urgent task”

Yes.

That’s why I have decided to set up iU as a professional university.

I will thoroughly carry out recurrent education on IT, AI, and IoT. 

The things we must do for society to respond to next-generation IT are coming into view. We just need to move forward.