Japan could fall prey to a new form of colonialism in the age of artificial intelligence if it fails to keep up with the rapid development of this technology, Japan's digitization minister warned on Friday, quoted by Reuters.
“I hope many Japanese people understand that we need to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence, otherwise we will end up becoming an 'artificial intelligence colony,'” said Digitalization Minister Hisashi Matsumoto.
Matsumoto issued the warning while defending a controversial bill to amend Japan's personal data protection laws. It wants to allow artificial intelligence companies to be able to train models using data such as medical records and criminal records without the explicit consent of the individuals concerned.
In other words, Japan wants to move in this field from an “opt-in system”, in which people's data can only be used if they give their consent, to an “opt-out” type, in which the rule is that they can be used if people do not explicitly request the opposite.
“The purpose of this change is that with the development of artificial intelligence advancing so rapidly, Japan cannot afford to fall behind,” Matsumoto stressed at a press conference. Some opposition parties have expressed concern over the government's draft law, citing risks of data security breaches.
The bill, which was passed by the lower house of parliament last week, is now being debated in the upper house.
Japan isn't the only country that fears being left behind in the 'AI era'
Japan's government has stepped up efforts — using subsidies, targeted public procurement and legislative changes — to support domestic development of artificial intelligence amid an intensifying global technology race led by the United States and China.
Japan has encouraged investment and increased access to technology from US companies such as Microsoft and OpenAI as part of the security relationship between Washington and Tokyo. But the Japanese government has also supported domestic players, including SoftBank, Sakura Internet and chipmakers, to expand domestically developed artificial intelligence models and domestic computing capacity.
Japan's efforts to keep up with the global artificial intelligence race reflect a broader concern shared by governments around the world, which fear falling behind and becoming increasingly dependent on foreign technology.
Earlier this week, the European Union unveiled a new technology sovereignty package aimed at boosting Europe's cloud, artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries and reducing reliance on US tech companies.
