Japan’s Prefectural Governments Adopting or Trialing ChatGPT for Work Purposes

On August 23, 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government began allowing the use of generative AI for some tasks. Approximately 50,000 employees will use ChatGPT, developed by the US company OpenAI, for reference when summarizing documents and putting forward ideas for planning proposals.

The editorial department of ChatGPT Magazine, a media site operated by the AI and research company Goatman, conducted an independent survey on how ChatGPT and generative AI is currently being used by Japan’s 47 prefectural government offices, based on publicly released information from each office. Along with the recent start by Tokyo Metropolitan Government to allow employees to officially use ChatGPT for work purposes and to improve services for citizens, Fukushima prefectural government issued a notice in June to all its employees advising them they can use ChatGPT to help with creating texts and planning proposals. Tochigi prefectural government also announced that it will start using the system on a full-scale basis from September. A further 22 prefectures have introduced the system on a trial basis, meaning that more than half of Japan’s 47 prefectural governments are now using generative AI in some form or another.

While introduction of ChatGPT is expanding across the Tōhoku and Kantō regions, the system is still commonly either “under consideration” or the status is “undisclosed” in Kansai and Kyūshū, indicating a firmer move toward use of generative in the east of Japan than in the west.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)