Japan to provide aid for domestic AI development project

The ministry aims to make the multimodal foundation model widely available to Japanese companies to help the country catch up with the United States and China in the technology.

The project is led by Noetra Corp., a Japanese company founded by firms including telecommunications operator SoftBank Corp., to develop AI models domestically.

Engineers from SoftBank and Japanese AI startup Preferred Networks Inc. will join the project.

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, or AIST, will support Noetra in coordination with research institutions at home and abroad.

Under the five-year project, Noetra and the AIST will release a foundation model as early as this fiscal year.

They plan to release an improved version every fiscal year by using data obtained from manufacturers and other companies.

The ministry plans to provide additional aid to the project after the first year.