The government will allow autonomous driving services on at least 25 public road routes by March next year and on 100 routes at an early date, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday. In that time period, Level 4 driverless vehicles -- those that are fully autonomous -- will also be seen traveling under specific conditions on some 10 routes after going through a screening process shortened to two months, Kishida told reporters in Taki, Mie Prefecture, where he viewed digital technology-based community development efforts and took a test ride on a self-driving bus. At a ceremony in the town, the prime minster vowed to increase government subsidies to push ahead with a "Digital Garden City" initiative involving Taki and some other towns in the prefecture. Earlier in the day, Kishida visited Kameyama, also in Mie Prefecture, to watch the drilling survey at a candidate location for a station on the planned Nagoya-Osaka section of the Chuo Shinkansen magnetic levitation train line. After the inspection, he said the transport ministry and maglev train operator Central Japan Railway, or JR Tokai, will officially join a group formed by the three western prefectures of Mie, Nara and Osaka to promote the construction of the section.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed on Thursday to boost cooperation between their countries in a wide range of fields including artificial intelligence. In their first in-person talks, held in Washington, the two leaders also confirmed that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inseparable. Kishida on July 6 had telephone talks with Starmer, who led his party to a landslide general election victory on July 4. They also agreed to promote the joint development of the next-generation fighter jet involving their countries plus Italy and discussed the situations in the Middle East and East Asia, including North Korea, and affirmed their close collaboration. Separately, Kishida met with new Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and congratulated him on his inauguration.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit France, Brazil and Paraguay from Wednesday through May 6, the government said Friday. In Paris on Thursday, Kishida plans to give a keynote speech at a ministerial council meeting of the OECD and meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. The speech will reflect Kishida's intention to lead discussions to resolve socio-economic challenges for the international community, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a news conference. Kishida is also set to deliver speeches at OECD events themed on generative artificial intelligence and on cooperation with Southeast Asia. In Brasilia on May 3, Kishida will meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, this year's chair of the Group of 20 major economies, and hold a joint news conference.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday unveiled its first poster featuring a catchphrase created using generative artificial intelligence. The slogan, written in red on a white background, pledges to the public a real feeling of economic revitalization, amid Prime Minister and LDP President Fumio Kishida's drive to raise wages to fuel economic growth. Generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, studied Kishida's remarks and party policy documents over the past three years to draw up drafts, according to people familiar with the matter. The AI-crafted slogan was chosen after LDP executives screened more than 500 candidate phrases, including ones proposed by copywriters. "This doesn't mean at all that an election will be called soon," Takuya Hirai, chair of the LDP's Public Relations Headquarters, told a news conference, referring to speculation that Kishida will call a snap general election as early as June.

The creator of a viral video purporting to show Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida making explicit sexual admissions in a live news broadcast said he made it in about an hour as a "little joke." "I didn't think it would create such a stir," the man in his 20s said of the video, explaining that he used generative artificial intelligence technology to create Kishida's voice and mouth movements. The video shows the prime minister speaking to the camera during a live news program on Japanese broadcaster Nippon Television Network. The company's logo appears in the top right corner of the screen along with a ticker saying, "Breaking News."

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled a plan on Monday to hold a video conference with Group of Seven leaders this autumn to formulate international guidelines and a code of conduct for developers of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Kishida showed the plan in a speech at a special session of the U.N.-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto. The theme of the guidelines and code of conduct is part of the Hiroshima AI Process, an initiative for international best practices regarding generative AI, according to the Japanese leader. Kishida also said that the Japanese government's new economic package, planned to be drawn up late this month, will include aid for the development of computational resources, used for processing huge volumes of data needed for AI development and use, and of basic computational models, as well as stepping up the introduction of AI in small businesses and the medical field. The Hiroshima AI Process, which was agreed on at the G7 summit held in Hiroshima in May, also calls for creating international guidelines by the end of the year that will also cover generative AI users.

Hiroshima, Japan – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has embarked on a flurry of diplomacy with international leaders in Japan, turning the focus of the Group of Seven summit firmly towards efforts to end Russia's 15-month war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy's surprise visit to Hiroshima on Saturday evening, following earlier reports that he would only attend online, immediately thrust the G7's efforts to choke Russia's economy to the top of a busy agenda that has touched on issues ranging from China's rise to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Shortly after touching down in Japan in a French aircraft, fresh on the heels of whistlestop visits to Europe and Saudi Arabia, Zelenskyy said the summit would be an opportunity for "enhanced cooperation for our victory". "Peace will become closer today," he said on his official Twitter account. French President Emmanuel Macron late on Saturday hailed Zelenskyy's attendance at the summit as a potential "game changer".

Leaders of the G7 meet in the southern Japanese city of Hiroshima for their annual summit from May 19 – 21. The are expected to discuss not only economics, but politics, and Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. China, which has become increasingly assertive in its claims in the disputed South China Sea and over self-ruled Taiwan, is also likely to be an issue along with North Korea's weapons testing. Here's a look at the G7 and what to expect: The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal group of leading industrialised democracies with no permanent secretariat or legal status. It consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, have reaffirmed their commitment to uphold the rules-based international order amid Russia's aggression against Ukraine and China's growing military and economic clout. During talks Friday at Singapore's Changi Airport following a six-day visit to Africa, Kishida told Lee that negotiations on a deal that would allow the transfer of defense equipment and technology between the two countries are making progress, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. "We want to strengthen security and defense cooperation," Kishida was quoted as saying, while also calling for deepening cooperation in areas such as start-ups and building resilient supply chains. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut in Japanese parliamentary deliberations, with the premier fielding questions from an opposition lawmaker that were drawn up with the help of the chatbot. Kazuma Nakatani, of the Constitutional Democratic Party, said in a session of parliament Wednesday that he asked ChatGPT: "What kind of questions would you ask the prime minister if you were a member of the lower house of parliament?" He then used those responses to form questions for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a discussion around a draft amendment related to Covid-19 pandemic policy. Among the questions drawn up by ChatGPT were: "On the bill about Covid policy revision, do you think you have listened to the opinion of local government and health-care workers enough? And could you tell us how those people involved are responding to it?"