Why Japanese firms are being so slow to use AI

Facing acute labour shortages, ageing demographics and chronic productivity problems, Japanese companies should be fertile ground for the take-up of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, compared with the US and UK, adoption in many workplaces remains sluggish and cautious.

Japan's response to AI is beginning to resemble one of the country's slow-moving, traditional Noh plays.

All the masked characters up on stage agree that action is urgent, and the call is repeated with solemn agreement. Yet the actors remain frozen in place.

Great for heightening drama, terrible for addressing the country's immediate difficulties.

Data showing the use of AI in the workplace suggests that Japan has fallen behind. Just 8.4% of Japanese workers use AI as part of their job, according to a report, external at the end of last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

By contrast, separate statistics puts the US figure at 50%,, external and the UK at 32%., external In Singapore, which is said to have seen the second-highest, external take up of AI after the United Arab Emirates, and the most in Asia, 56% of workers are said to use AI "multiple times a week"., external