Koizumi: AI Quest is a program aimed at creating a place of practical learning, mainly using case studies based on actual issues experienced by businesses.

Conceived on our belief that personnel development is essential for a wider introduction of AI in society, the program was carried out from October to February, with about 200 participants. Saito and Orimo helped us in many respects of the program, including development of educational methods, such as material development, operation of the program and review of its impact.

There are many examples of developing AI specialists using advanced methods. For example, a programming school in France, called “42,” charges no tuition fees but it conducts a monthlong, round-the-clock test. Meanwhile in the United States, there are people who pay high tuition to attend schools because internet companies, including GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon), are hiring AI specialists at high salaries.

So overseas, such intense competition between people seeking to enter the industry has partially driven the development of education.

Saito: Naturally, if the size of the job market where one can play a viable role is significant, it serves as an incentive to learn. The U.S. has an established design of a game in which people who have solved a problem can take control of business, but Japan is still in a phase where such a game is being created.

That is why it is important to show to the public an image of talent who can generate economic impact through specific achievements capitalizing on AI, which will help increase motivation for learning — not just the vague air of us doing an AI-related project.

I think it is necessary to create an ecosystem where such individuals will play an active role in accelerating an increased use of AI in society.

Orimo: But in Japan, we have an issue to solve before setting an ideal talent model. Our problem is that, in Japan, corporate and personnel strategies aren’t linked together. Personnel measures are carried out without clearly defined job descriptions. It’s often unclear what types of talent you have on your team. When you’re thinking of corporate strategy for the future, you’re not sure how many digital specialists may become necessary.

In Japan, where the population is aging quickly and the birthrate is low, an urgent issue is to solve the shortage of labor by allowing diverse work styles. 

However, discussions about what employment practices should look like and what skills will be in demand in the future are happening not only in Japan, but around the world in anticipation of changes in the structure of industry and employment.

A report released by the World Economic Forum in 2018 said a “robot revolution” is expected to create 133 million new jobs by 2022, while 75 million existing jobs could be displaced. 

The report from the forum ― known for its annual meeting held in Davos, Switzerland ― painted a positive picture of a future brought on by the Fourth Industrial Revolution where technologies such as the “internet of things” and AI develop. However, at the same time, it pointed out that it takes a labor force equipped with new skills to harness growth opportunities.

The report stressed the need for an education system that supports individuals in improving or relearning skills and social policies aimed at promoting lifelong learning.

Individuals in focus

Needless to say, the Japanese government already has comprehensive talent and employment policies aimed at helping develop creativity and the country’s strengths by capitalizing on information technology.

For instance, there is a policy to promote the learning of IT skills based on an employee’s knowledge and in each industry area or such skills required in a cross-sectoral manner. Another example is a measure to support education for equipping individuals with basic IT literacy in cooperation with universities and other institutions. Moreover, the government places an emphasis on policies to stimulate motivation and enthusiasm in workers that leads to helping improve productivity or create new types of value for the company.

The government also seeks to promote clarification of duties for employees and their improved treatment based on fair performance evaluation. It even accepts having a side business and freelancing as work style options, because it attaches importance to the power of individuals as the source of value creation.

Kouki Noumura, director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Human Resources Policy Office, said the ministry’s policy on workforce and employment practices going forward is to encourage flexible work styles.

“In the coming era where there would be rapid progress stemmed from the Fourth Industrial Revolution and population aging, what organizations need is the ability to adapt to a changing environment,” Noumura said. “And for that, you need to create an environment where individuals can maximize their sense of value. We in the government are promoting flexible work styles so that each individual can find a work style that best suits them and can maximize their skills.”

Takeuchi: What kind of boy were you when you were young?

Nishikawa: I became interested in PCs around the fourth grade. My father had an introductory book on (the programming language) BASIC. I picked it up and I was immediately hooked. My parents wouldn’t buy me a PC, so I would play around with source code on a piece of paper.

After I got my own PC, I spent days programming. Then, I gradually became curious about the more fundamental aspects of computing, not just programming — like how computers work in the first place? From there, my interest grew in the direction of networks and hardware. I didn’t think twice about joining the Hiraki lab (professor Kei Hiraki’s lab at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technology).

Takeuchi: It’s an interesting lab. I hear the professor still visits your company.

Nishikawa: Yes, he does. Actually, he works for us full time.

Takeuchi: So, you asked him to join PFN?

Nishikawa: No, he first told me he wanted to talk about something and visited our office. Until then, he had advised us on analogue aspects, like the handling of processor boards and high frequencies and things like that.

One day, he told us he wanted to develop a supercomputer with PFN. He now gives lectures to our members once a month or so.

Takeuchi: Am I correct in remembering that you met (PFN co-founder and Vice President Daisuke) Okanohara in college?

Nishikawa: Correct. We were in the same class in the first year, and our relationship has continued to this day.

He said he wanted to run an application on a search engine he developed through the MITOU Program. While I helped him with that, we started discussing our dream of creating a sophisticated search engine and launching a business around it.

Takeuchi: So, that led you to establish (PFN predecessor) Preferred Infrastructure (PFI), right? I understand you launched the business when you were in graduate school. What were your career plans at the time?

Nishikawa: At the time, I was interested in IBM or Intel. While I was working part-time for a bio startup, this experience helped me realize it was possible to work with a small team that enabled me to do and approach things I wanted to in ways I liked. That’s why I decided to start a company, but I had little funding. Starting a company wouldn’t have been possible without MITOU’s support.

Support in early years

Takeuchi: So, the business took off smoothly?

Nishikawa: No, not at all. The founding members were all engineers. We had zero knowledge about making money, let alone how to establish a company.

That’s where MITOU’s support proved helpful. The program referred us to experts who could give us advice about things involved in starting a company, like legal, financial or intellectual property matters. An accounting firm that helped us back in those days is still doing some work for us.

Takeuchi: It’s been 10 years since we last had time for this kind of discussion. Your company has grown so much during this period, hasn’t it?

Nishikawa: Fourteen years ago, Preferred Infrastructure — now PFN — was created by six people, including team members from an international programming competition, as well as my university friends.

We established PFN in 2014 to take advantage of our real-time machine learning technology that focused on the “internet of things.” We are now fortunate enough to have about 300 employees.

Takeuchi: Wow, six of you started the company and it now has 300 employees. That’s impressive. (PFN co-founder and Vice President Daisuke) Okanohara was in MITOU. Do any other former MITOU participants belong to your company?

Nishikawa: We have at least 13 MITOU “graduates.”

Takeuchi: I think that may be the largest number of MITOU graduates now working for a single Japanese company. You have grown the company through identifying outstanding individuals and putting them together as a working team. I think that deserves praise.

I’ve been involved in MITOU as senior project manager. I notice many applicants mention they “did an internship at PFN.” What does it take to successfully join your company?

Nishikawa: First of all, we look for someone who is knowledgeable about computer science. We are divided over whether we should give a coding exam to applicants, but in my opinion, we should. That’s because I think it’s important to find out not only whether a candidate understands theory, but also if they can also practically apply said theory.

For applicants who interned with us over a two-month period, we review how they performed during their internship to find out how they identified issues and how they addressed challenges.