Japan govt launches large-scale Gen AI pilot programme for civil servants
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The system will help bureaucrats draft responses to parliamentary questions in the near future.
PHOTO: EPA
- The Japanese government launched a large-scale Gen AI pilot named Genai to assist 180,000 civil servants with tasks like writing, translation, and drafting parliamentary responses.
- Genai aims to reduce the average seven-hour drafting time for parliamentary answers by using past transcripts, laws, and a search function, with a response drafting feature planned by late 2026.
- The system also processes large public comment volumes, offers meeting transcription and translation, and will improve efficiency while human staff verify and finalise outputs.
AI generated
TOKYO - The Japanese government has launched a large-scale pilot project for a generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) platform being developed in-house to support the work of civil servants.
The project covers around 180,000 government employees, including those at field offices.
The platform has been named “Genai” after the 18th century Japanese inventor Hiraga Gennai, while also being a play on the English term “generative AI”.
In addition to enabling AI-assisted writing and translation, the system will help bureaucrats draft responses to parliamentary questions in the near future.
The government will evaluate its effectiveness in improving efficiency and identify challenges during the trial, aiming to fully implement the system in fiscal 2027.
Developed by the Digital Agency, the Genai system was introduced on a trial basis at the agency in May 2025, with its in-house development seen to guarantee a certain degree of confidentiality.
The pilot project involving other ministries and agencies began in May 2026.
A key feature of the platform that is under development focuses on drafting responses to parliamentary questions.
The average time needed by government departments to complete the drafting of responses to questions from lawmakers submitted with advance notice was seven hours and 16 minutes, according to a survey conducted by the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs in February and March 2025.
Researching legal interpretations and past responses, as well as conducting policy reviews, were some of the reasons given for why drafting answers took so long.
Similar surveys over the past few years have consistently shown that the process takes six to seven hours.
Genai offers a search function based on past parliamentary transcripts, laws and other resources.
The agency is currently developing a function to draft responses to lawmakers’ questions by analysing and organising key points, with a trial service hoped to be launched by the end of 2026.
Although human staff will still be needed to verify the factual accuracy of the drafts and take the lead in finalising responses, including making policy judgments, the system is expected to significantly improve efficiency.
Genai can also classify large volumes of public comments and opinions.
Depending on the issue, public comments can number from several thousand to tens of thousands and take considerable time to process.
The platform is also capable of audio transcription for meetings and translations. KYODO NEWS
