You likely wouldn’t know it, but Japanese scientists were some of the earliest pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence and neural network research.
Despite helping to lay the foundation for the global AI race that’s unfolding now, by most measures Japan currently lags in the development and adoption of the technology that is forecast to become a trillion-dollar market.
It seems like every day there’s a buzzy new AI announcement from the U.S. or China. The DeepSeek shock put a new spotlight on Chinese innovation. But even with its historically high-tech reputation, Japanese firms have struggled to keep pace. There were no foundation models from Japan between 2019 and 2023, compared to 182 from the U.S. and 30 from China. The sector made some gains last year, though at a much more limited scope.
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