AI Basic Plan: Aren’t the Risks Being Downplayed Too Much?

Editorial

15:30 JST, October 16, 2025

There have been an increasing number of cases of generative artificial intelligence being misused to spread disinformation or commit crimes.

If the government makes light of the risks involved in using AI, it will not be able to gain public understanding, no matter how much it calls on the public to use the technology.

The government needs to engage in discussions about firm legal regulations.

The government has compiled an outline of a basic plan concerning AI development and utilization. It will incorporate expert opinions and finalize the plan within the year.

The outline sets the goal of making Japan “the world’s most AI-friendly country for development and utilization,” aiming to compete with countries such as the United States and China, which are competing fiercely to develop AI.

The outline states that as concrete measures to achieve this goal, the government will work to nurture and secure specialized personnel and help private companies expand overseas, among others, aiming to link domestic AI development to the nation’s economic growth.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, manual processes, such as for distributing relief funds, took considerable time, leading to criticism known as “digital defeat,” which refers to as the delay in digitalization compared with other countries. The government likely considers that it cannot fall behind other countries in AI development.

According to the Cabinet Office, only 27% of Japanese respondents have experience using AI services, lower than that of China at 81% and the United States at 69%.

For that reason, the outline also indicates a policy that the government will take the lead in using AI, aiming to “foster a widespread awareness of AI in society by ‘giving it a try first.’”

Meanwhile, the harmful effects of AI are becoming apparent. On social media, fake advertisements created using AI featuring celebrities soliciting investments are circulating, leading to a spate of fraud cases in which elderly people and others are swindled out of large sums of money.

There is no end to cases in which children’s photos and other materials are altered through the use of AI into sexual images and spread online.

Could a major cause of these situations be the 2018 revision of the Copyright Law? The government revised the law to allow AI to learn from copyrighted works without permission from the copyright holders. It should regulate the creation of fake images and similar content by revising the law once again or establishing new legislation.

Although the outline of the basic plan states that “many people feel uneasy about the risks posed by AI,” it does not sufficiently present concrete measures for how to address these risks.

In the first place, if people become too reliant on AI, their creativity and ability to think will decline. Taking a stance of solely promoting AI is far too simplistic.

It is predicted that AI will eventually replace humans and take over many services. Who could possibly want to live in a society in which large numbers of people lose their jobs to AI?

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 16, 2025)