Japan has been a country that has always been one of the front-runners in technology. And now, the country could fall prey to a new form of colonialism in the AI era if it fails to maintain its pace with technology’s rapid development. Digital Minister of Japan, Hisashi Matsumoto, said, ‘I hope many Japanese people understand that we need to press ahead with AI development, or we’ll end up becoming an AI colony.’
Matsumoto also raised the warning as he defended a bill to amend Japan’s personal data protection law to let AI developers to train models with data such as medical and criminal records without the individuals’ consent. He also said in a press briefing, ‘The point of this change is that, with AI development moving so fast, Japan can’t afford to fall behind.’
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Apart from that, some opposition parties have expressed concerns about the government drafted bill, citing data breach risks. The bill that passed the lower house of parliament last week is now being debated in the upper house. Keeping in mind how the United States of America and even China have been pushing their limits to win the AI race, Japan has also started putting in a lot of efforts to stand with the front runners as well.
And this is not happening in Japan only, the aggressive attitude of the US and China in the Ai race is pushing more countries towards developing powerful AI models or secure land for large data centres. On the other hand, experts from the tech industry have been saying that the war is waging at a very fast pace and the winner will be the one who will master economic return in the use of energy. It will be more than interesting to see how other countries pick pace in the AI race as it is going to change a lot of things.
