The Development of AI Ethics in Japan: Ethics-washing Society 5.0?

This paper examines how AI ethics has been developed at the national level in Japan, and what this process reveals about broader Japanese state imaginaries of how advanced technology should be developed and used, and what a future with these technologies should look like. Key developments in the Japanese government's approach to AI ethics and governance between 2014 and 2023 are laid out, based on an analysis of official reports and policy documents supplemented by data collected via semi-structured interviews with three expert members of the committees that formulated several key sets of ethical principles. The paper considers Japan's positioning in the global race to develop AI ethics principles over this period, as well as the imaginary of AI within the wider historical context of imaginaries about the knowledge society in Japan. I suggest three ways in which AI ethics has been understood and instrumentalized in the Japanese context, and argue that the main methodology used to date-ELSI-complements the government's utopian and techno-determinist imaginaries of the future while concealing a deeply conservative approach that serves to reproduce structural inequalities and discrimination despite the apparent internationalism and progressive values that are repeatedly expressed in state-promoted ethical principles.

Automated summary

This paper examines the development of AI ethics at the national level in Japan and reveals Japan's broader state imaginaries of advanced technology development and usage, as well as its vision for the future with these technologies. The study analyzes official reports, policy documents, and interviews with experts to highlight key developments in Japan's approach to AI ethics and governance from 2014 to 2023. It also explores Japan's positioning in the global race to develop AI ethics principles and discusses the historical context of AI imaginaries in Japan.