Japanese AI Adoption Remains Drastically Below Global Leaders (nhk.or.jp) 28
A Japanese government survey found 26.7% of people in Japan used generative AI during fiscal 2024, which ended in March. The figure tripled from the previous year but remained far behind China's 81.2% and the United States' 68.8%.
People in their 20s led Japanese adoption at 44.7%, followed by those in their 40s and 30s. Among companies, 49.7% of Japanese firms planned to use generative AI, compared to more than 80% of companies in China and the US.
People in their 20s led Japanese adoption at 44.7%, followed by those in their 40s and 30s. Among companies, 49.7% of Japanese firms planned to use generative AI, compared to more than 80% of companies in China and the US.
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
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With a UID that low, you still haven't found the benefit of AI?
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You haven't been told it seems. Being good with AI is summed up as the following: "Getting the governance models to do as little as possible". I suggest iterating prompts until you don't see any language involving stuff like "I have to respect...be careful about...be sensitive about...this is a big topic...." Just autoreject any replies that contain governance weasel phrasing and your AI returns will actually start be worth money.
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No. I'm suggesting the governance models, in putting their thumbs on the scales, make it impossible to get anything useful about anything interesting. The cognition is so compromised so clumsily so early in the process that one may as well not even bother. If you ask about something the model knows to be true, it will parrot the GoodFactTM and you will not get what little value the LLM has to offer in terms of creative or intuitive seeming logic leaps. Suggested resolutions and courses of action stop being
weez da guinea pigs (Score:1)
Let the greedy foolish West be the guinea pigs. If it works, copy, if not, laugh at CowboyFailGPT over sake.
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What about CowboiKneelGPT?
I think I'm turning Japanese (Score:4)
Re:Interesting (Score:4, Interesting)
Japan loves blockchain:
https://bitcoinist.com/from-bi... [bitcoinist.com]
Swing and a miss on that one.
Not investing in the latest pump & dump? (Score:5, Insightful)
What do they mean by ... (Score:3)
I probably use it on a daily basis. Every time I try to get through one of those interminable telephone menus, trying to find a human to talk to.
"Planned to" seems dubious (Score:2)
The differences mean something; it's just not obvious to what degree they reflect actual company strategy, vs. personal fascination with the new shiny thing, vs. people saying what they think the audien
Good! Let them drag the adoption of AI (Score:5, Insightful)
The irony is this is a country that likes robots.
But I think people aren't recognizing that the reason AI doesn't do well in most countries is that the native language speaking population is what the LLM trains on, and Japanese, Korean and Chinese are "compact" are single-country languages, so the only people who can develop a LLM in Japan, are Japanese companies. Japan also has copyright laws that do not allow fair use, so creating a LLM is pretty much impossible in Japan.
China on the other hand does not give 2 cares about infringing copyright and has likely been stealing works en masse for decades that LLM's can train on. There is an interesting technique that you can pass "broken chinese" basically the unicode for the individual strokes ( U+31C0 to U+31EF ) to some LLM's and they will vomit all kinds of strange data.
WIIFM? (Score:4, Insightful)
What's in it for me?
I have not been shown a particular use-case where I would directly use AI to my benefit. I don't make digital art, I don't need it to summarize any meetings were an "AI notetaker" would be permitted, I've found most AI-generated summaries are of questionable accuracy, and to be frank about it, technologies where it might be 'under the hood' that I use seem to be worse for it, like search results. I don't work with huge datasets as a researcher or clinician, and much of my professional time is spent troubleshooting things that are messed up by mistakes made by tech companies themselves.
What's AI supposed to do for me? If all I'm doing is making it generate things that I didn't need before, then it sounds like it's just a further waste of my time.
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been waiting for an answer to this and usually im told just use it or be left behind!!
not sure what that really means..
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That was my reaction as well. They'll be one of the last to be buried in the cesspool of AI crap. In fact, they may see the other countries being destroyed and maybe even successfully stop it in theirs.
They may simply be smarter there (Score:2)
Basically all use of "generative AI" comes with quality reduction at a cost reduction that may or may not materialize. That is stupid for several reasons, including that long-term you are likely to lose much more than you safe. A race to the bottom benefits nobody in the end. Obviously, the MBA fuckups cannot see that with their 3 month limited view into the future. My guess would be the Japanese take a longer-term view and then Artificial Ignorance begins to look like a pretty bad idea.
It's luck, not wisdom. Japan is behind (Score:4, Interesting)
I think LLMs and generative AI are EXTREMELY overhyped, at best. It's tempting to say the Japanese are smart enough to wait this out...but looking at my Canon camera that is lacking basic and VERY OBVIOUS features found on iPhones 10 years ago...like cloud sync...and that TMK, no major camera provider offers this even today...in fact their professional-grade external flashes JUST stopped using AA batteries...and their competitors are on a similar timeline.
Think cars and cameras are an anomaly? Why were they so far behind Microsoft on gaming services? Sony now has a decent XBox games pass competitor, but they lagged MS by years...Nintendo still doesn't have one, despite having the PERFECT platform for it.
OK, so maybe cars, consoles, and cameras aren't indicative of Japanese industry...they're leaders at creating games, but why are the main gaming engines all made elsewhere? Why aren't they competing with Unreal Engine?...
OK, so gaming engines are an anomaly...what about software? You'd think Japan would have some Adobe/MS competitor...have they invented a programming language (that anyone uses?)...they used to be a leader in computing in the 80s!
OK, they're masters at electronics, what about Japanese phones?...I know they exist, but why are they getting their asses handed to them by Korean and American companies?...even before then, they were getting killed by European ones like Nokie and Ericson or even the Canadian RIM.
I love Japan and I guarantee you my next car and camera will be Japanese...but AI?...they're behind because Japan does things their own way and they just don't care about software and seem to really really suck at it. You'd think with their culture and history they'd be leaders at it, but they just aren't...I don't know the precise reason why. They're not intelligently looking at the market and being conservative on embracing LLMs by choice, it's by failure.
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Sync is always optional (Score:2)
The lack of features is in itself a feature. I don't want to stink my photos with the clown. I want a good 'ol SD card or USB port where I can transfer them privately, between my own devices. I don't want to go through 5 menus on a touch screen just to adjust my car HVAC. I don't want yap recognition either ... I talk to other humans, not inanimate objects like cars. Give me good 'ol knobs and buttons. Ludd!
Your iPhone allows you to sync with cable or cloud. I know some professionals can generate a terabyte of photos in a day, so maybe they want cloud sync disabled because they care more about battery life than convenience and reducing wear and tear on their device (most of my phones die at the charging cable, so while my Canon is probably better built than my iPad or iPhone, I woudl imagine there's only so much you can do to make a USB port last longer). However, the logical thing to do is to make it option
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Camera interfaces are very unfriendly to seniors (Score:2)
I think the old looks of things may have to do with the respect for the older generations, which at work may well translate into following the lead of senior people, who don't push to innovate user interfaces that work. Obviously, things don't look new, but they'll work fine.
I get what you're saying and it makes sense...but if you've seen camera interfaces, they have small text and suuuuck...critical features are hidden under many levels of menus. It's perfectly fine in a pinch, but it would be much nicer to have a full-screen computer UI that you can configure when your device is plugged in. So while Japan is famous for their respect for their elders and tradition, it ironically is hurting them here. It's like they have severe NIH syndrome (Not Invented Here)
Normal (Score:4, Interesting)
Japan's slower adoption of generative AI isn't because of stubbornness or incompetence, it’s because Japan has one of the oldest populations on Earth.
Over 29 percent of Japan’s population is 65 or older, the highest proportion among developed nations. Compare that to about 17 percent in the US and 14 percent in China.
Older populations are less likely to adopt new tech quickly, especially software like generative AI that often requires typing, digital fluency, and comfort with abstraction. The younger Japanese users are adopting AI at high rates, just like their peers abroad, but they’re simply a smaller share of the total population.
In short, Japan’s numbers reflect demographics, not disinterest or backwardness.
Too many idiots in Japan's management (Score:1)
Disclaimer : I work in IT in Japan.
Japan was never good at business IT and the middle/upper management of Japanese companies is full with idiots who were just promoted there because they sticked with the company for +20 years.
With the AI boom, there is this is influx of self-proclaimed experts and the upper management is so desperate to believe that they will rule the world with their AI ideas.
Meanwhile people at the bottom are scrambling to keep everything running, being treated like throw-away labor.