Panasonic will focus its research and development on artificial intelligence and the "internet of things" to drive growth in hopes of reversing the decline in group sales. The company plans a tenfold increase of AI-related engineers from the 100 currently employed within five years, executives announced at a news conference Wednesday outlining the strategy. Securing manpower has become an issue in the competition against American IT companies. Panasonic will triple its ranks of AI engineers to 300 in the next two years and aims to have 1,000 within five years, said Yoshiyuki Miyabe, director of the company's new business innovation division. The division, established April 1, will have a hand in the AI push. Panasonic has also been busy tapping outside talent.