- Microsoft-backed AI startup OpenAI has opened its first Asian office in Tokyo to begin business in Japan.
- OpenAI says it has 2 million active weekly users in Japan, and its enterprise customers include subsidiaries of Daikin Industries, Rakuten Group, and an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp.
- Japan hopes to use AI to compete with an increasingly assertive China, accelerate its shift to digital services, and ease a growing labour shortage.
Microsoft-backed AI startup OpenAI opened its first Asian office in Tokyo and released a customised GPT-4 model catering to Japanese-speaking users.
New business in Japan
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO said in a video message. “This is just the first step in what I hope will be a long-term partnership with the people of Japan, government leaders, businesses, and research institutions.”
According to OpenAI officials, it has 2 million active weekly users in the country, and its corporate clients include subsidiaries of Daikin Industries, Rakuten Group, and an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp.
OpenAI said it has a custom model optimized for Japanese and that Tadao Nagasaki, who was president of Amazon Web Services Japan, will be in charge of Japan operations.
“We want to build a track record through repeated dialogue with companies in Japan,” said Nagasaki, during a news conference Monday.
In addition to London and Dublin, the Tokyo office is the third overseas office and this year the number of staff will increase to around 10 to 20.
Also read: Sam Altman quits OpenAI venture fund under new structure
Future developments
As Tokyo pumps billions of dollars into its tech supply chain, Japan is beginning to attract global attention for the potential of its AI market.
Microsoft said last week it would invest $2.9bn over two years in Japan’s cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, part of a wave of global investment by the US tech giant.
Japan hopes to use AI to compete with an increasingly assertive China, accelerate its shift to digital services, and ease a growing labour shortage.
