The Gennai Library system enables government staff to share their knowledge and expertise. The Digital Agency has added an artificial intelligence agent function capable of autonomously performing two or more tasks simultaneously to its Gennai generative AI platform, which is available to about 180,000 government employees. The agent can perform a series of tasks based only on a single direction, including preparing and summarizing meeting minutes and sharing them within departments. The agency said it is the first time in the world that a government body has prepared an environment enabling the use of an AI agent at this scale. Previously, users had to enter separate prompts for each task.

The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the yen is displayed outside a securities firm in Tokyo on Monday. The yen is becoming less vulnerable when global yields move higher, according to Goldman Sachs. The yen is becoming a more effective hedge against an artificial intelligence-driven market shock as changes in Japan's policy backdrop reduce the risk of the currency weakening sharply when global yields rise, according to Goldman Sachs. "The yen now looks like a more attractive hedge for procyclical portfolios than it has been over recent years, despite the global backdrop still arguing for further JPY weakness," strategists including Kamakshya Trivedi wrote in a note dated Friday. The call comes after the yen showed renewed signs of its traditional haven characteristics during last week's global technology stock rout.

Jack Clark, co-founder and head of Anthropic's Public Benefit Fund, speaks at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok on Oct. 16. Washington - A wave of American wealth created by artificial intelligence companies could produce some of the largest charitable sums since the era of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, raising questions about where the money goes. Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, has said it would commit 5% of its shares to a new Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a stake that could be worth around $100 billion if the company reaches the $2 trillion valuation investors are eyeing for a stock market debut expected as early as November. Combined with pledges by its seven co-founders to give away 80% of their equity and a program matching employees' donations, Anthropic says roughly a fifth of its shares will be dedicated to public-benefit purposes. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

SoftBank's Son plans $50 billion Malaysia tech outlay, PM Anwar Ibrahim says Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, has reportedly picked regions in Malaysia for data centers and other projects. Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group has tapped locations in Malaysia for $50 billion in technology investments, the country's prime minister said, an outlay that would accelerate the billionaire's global bet on AI infrastructure. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had a videoconference with Son last week, during which the Japanese tech investor said he had picked regions in the Southeast Asian country for projects including data centers. SoftBank representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours. "He said he had chosen Sarawak -- Kuching -- and Peninsular Malaysia to expand investment in what would be among the largest investments in the region, worth $50 billion," Anwar said in a speech in Malacca on Saturday.

As of August this year, the number of registered Japanese language teachers was about 20,000. Tokyo - Japan is facing a shortage of Japanese language teachers for foreign workers ahead of the introduction next April of a new system for accepting foreign workers, according to a recent government survey. Under the new Employment for Skill Development program, which replaces the Technical Intern Training program, foreign nationals are required to pass the A1 level or higher on Japanese proficiency tests or attend at least 100 hours of Japanese language classes before working in Japan. The survey, jointly conducted by the Immigration Services Agency and the labor ministry, asked organizations that will support foreign workers and recipient companies about their progress in securing Japanese language teachers. The survey covered 1,880 such organizations included in the mailing list of the government-affiliated Organization for Technical Intern Training and received valid responses from 348 organizations over the three days through Oct. 7 Of the respondents, 125 organizations, or 35.9%, said they had not secured sufficient numbers of registered teachers and had no prospects for doing so.

A humanoid robot distributes leaflets of GMO Internet Group at the company's booth during the Japan Drone Expo 2026 in the city of Chiba in June | REUTERS GMO Internet has made an urgent request for the Japanese government to implement active cyberdefense operations following an unauthorized access incident, sources have said. GMO Internet has revealed that there was unauthorized access to its servers for automated FX currency margin trading. A total of 26,739 such servers may have been affected, and user login information may have been stolen. It shut down all servers on Wednesday. Since some users have reported losses from unauthorized transactions on their accounts following the incident, the company said Saturday that it will compensate users for these losses. The company also plans to make a consolation payment of ¥5,000 to all users, regardless of whether they have suffered financial damage.

Then-U.S. cybersecurity soordinator Michael Daniel answers a question during an event in Washington in May 2014. Washington - Companies and government agencies rushed last week to patch two critical flaws in PHP, the programming language that runs a large share of the world's websites. The vulnerability to potential hackers was found by using a powerful model from OpenAI in one of the most high-profile demonstration of AI's cybercapabilities. Reporters spoke with Michael Daniel, president of the Cyber Threat Alliance and a onetime White House cybersecurity coordinator under former U.S. President Barack Obama, about what the episode means as AI tools find software flaws faster than ever. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk hold a news conference at the White House in Washington in May 2025. Kyiv - Ukraine said on Saturday that the Starlink satellite system and its military version Starshield were now fully functional after over a week of restrictions that disrupted military operations and intensified tensions with the U.S. But hours later, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company owns Starlink, accused the Ukrainian military of violating the company's terms. Neither Musk nor the U.S. government, which operates Starshield using Starlink technology, had taken responsibility for imposing the curbs. "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," Musk said on X. Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said on the Telegram app that the country is "physically unable" to use Starlink for long-and medium-range attack drone operations.

A humanoid robot distributes leaflets of GMO Internet Group at the company's booth during the Japan Drone Expo 2026 in Chiba, in June | REUTERS GMO Internet has made an urgent request for the Japanese government to implement "active cyber defense" operations following an unauthorized access incident, sources said Saturday. GMO Internet has revealed that there was unauthorized access to its servers for automated FX currency margin trading. A total of 26,739 such servers may have been affected. Since some users have reported losses from unauthorized transactions on their accounts following the incident, the company said Saturday that it will compensate users for these losses. The company also plans to make a consolation payment of ¥5,000 to all users, regardless of whether they have suffered financial damage. On Oct. 1, the government began operations under the active cyber defense system, which involves the Self-Defense Forces and police pre-emptively breaking into an attacker's server to neutralize it and prevent damage.

Government and company websites across the world went offline this week after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language prompted millions of hacking attempts. Japan has said it will set up a team to simulate cyberattacks using AI to identify weaknesses in technology systems as organizations scramble to curtail risks from flaws in the PHP programming language that underpins much of the internet. Government and company websites across the world went offline this week after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in the widely used programming language prompted millions of hacking attempts, forcing website operators to rush to protect or temporarily shut down their systems. Highlighting the extent of the disruption, Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, SoftBank, said on Friday it was suspending its emergency alert system for mobile users. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.