Fortunately, at our company, being an IT company, everyone actively uses multiple AI tools, including ChatGPT, and nearly all documents (except for government-related ones) are paperless. On top of that, most of our work is completed on the cloud or through online platforms.
But Japan as a whole… it’s a different story, and frankly, it’s tragic.
Last year some troubling statistics got released: Japan ranked 32nd in the world digital competitiveness rankings (*1), 80% of people do not use ChatGPT (*2), and around 30% of employees at large companies don’t want to be involved in DX (digital transformation) promotion (*3). While these numbers vary slightly depending on the survey, they align with what we observe in the field. (*Sources: *1: IMD materials, *2: Cownet materials, *3: IGS survey)
Many people in Japan justify avoiding innovation with excuses like, “We don’t need it,” “Our current methods are good enough,” or “It seems suspicious, so we won’t try it.” This mindset seems pervasive, and worse yet, many companies and individuals are simply not recognizing the urgency. Even the government, which claims to be “promoting” DX, still insists on paper documents for so many processes. It’s hard to believe they’re taking this seriously.
We can’t afford to wait any longer. If we don’t get the entire country moving forward on this issue this year, we risk falling even further behind other developed nations—perhaps so far behind that catching up will be impossible.
