News

The Japanese government has decided to assess the introduction of human challenge trials for vaccine and drug development, aiming to expedite the development of domestically produced vaccines and drugs. This decision comes after Japan's COVID-19 vaccine and drug development lagged behind foreign counterparts by several years.

Japan's Cabinet approved a bill on February 28th that grants the government authority to investigate AI developers in cases of serious incidents that violate citizens' rights and interests. The bill also promotes research, development, and application of AI to maximize the benefits the technology could bring to society.

Construction firms in Japan have embraced autonomous machinery, driven by serious labor shortages caused by an aging workforce and the industry's unattractive image among young people. At the Naruse Dam, automated construction, coordinated by artificial intelligence, has significantly increased productivity and efficiency.

Japan's decision to skip the upcoming UN anti-nuclear weapons meeting has sparked controversy, with the government citing the importance of nuclear deterrence as the reason for its absence. This stance has drawn criticism from various groups, including the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nihon Hidankyo, who argue that the government should prioritize nuclear disarmament and join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Japan's state-of-the-art public supercomputer, ABCI 3.0, specialized for artificial intelligence research, began operating on Jan. 20 at the AIST Kashiwa campus in Chiba Prefecture. Boasting a computational ability three times that of Fugaku and seven times that of its predecessor ABCI 2.0, the 36-billion-yen investment is intended to support universities, research institutions, and startups in pioneering advanced AI development.