Japan’s ageing population, labour shortages and weak productivity would appear to make it a natural market for workplace AI. Yet adoption remains relatively low, with an OECD study finding that just 8.4% of Japanese workers use AI on the job.
That compares with much higher reported usage in countries including the US, UK and Singapore. The gap comes as Japanese companies face pressure to do more with fewer workers and improve productivity, which remains among the weakest in the G7.
Risk Aversion Is Slowing Adoption
One obstacle is Japan’s cautious corporate culture. Austin Xu, co-founder of AI startup Kuse AI, said many Japanese organizations have little tolerance for AI mistakes, particularly in customer-facing work, and often require more evidence before allowing the technology into important workflows.
Parrisa Haghirian, professor of international management at Kyoto University of Advanced Science, similarly said generative AI is often restricted to lower-risk uses such as writing, summarizing and information gathering. Companies remain more hesitant about applying it to decision-making and core operations because of concerns about reliability and reputational damage.
Digital infrastructure can create another barrier. Some organizations still rely heavily on old computer systems and manual processes, while Japan also faces shortages of workers with advanced digital skills.
The problem is visible even in sectors such as healthcare, where some hospitals have yet to fully digitize patient records. That makes deploying newer AI systems more difficult because many rely on structured digital data and modern software infrastructure.
Japan Is Trying to Encourage Wider AI Use
The Japanese government has responded with policies designed to accelerate adoption. Its AI Promotion Act, enacted in 2025, establishes a national framework for supporting AI research, development and commercial use while addressing risks such as privacy violations and misuse.
Rather than imposing detailed restrictions similar to the European Union’s AI Act, Japan’s legislation focuses heavily on promoting development, infrastructure and skills. The government has also emphasized the need to expand computing capacity and train more people with digital expertise.
There are signs of progress. Larger Japanese companies are increasingly introducing generative AI tools, while some employers have begun prioritizing AI literacy when hiring graduates.
Trading company Kanematsu is among those moving further. New employee Uta Yamaguchi said she regularly uses AI for drafting emails, summarizing documents and recording meetings, while some colleagues use the technology extensively.
More autonomous AI agents remain much less common. These systems can perform several connected tasks with limited human intervention, a form of deployment that some US businesses are already experimenting with more aggressively.
The OECD concluded that Japan needs both to remove barriers to workplace AI adoption and ensure that employees benefit when the technology is introduced. Its research found that only 35.8% of Japanese workers already using AI said it had improved their performance or working conditions.
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