Junichi Hasegawa has made a career of tackling tough problems, from connecting PlayStation 3 users for online play to researching self-driving cars. Now he wants to invent healthier food ingredients with the help of artificial intelligence.
The 61-year-old Hasegawa built up Japan’s top AI startup, Preferred Networks (PFN), by striking deals and partnerships with the country’s industrial giants, from Toyota Motor to Eneos Holdings. Now at century-old snack food maker Ezaki Glico, he’s set his sights on adapting those skills to the notoriously cost-conscious food sector and revitalizing the Osaka-based maker of Pocky chocolate sticks.
Personally recruited by Etsuro Ezaki, the 49-year-old great-grandson of Glico’s founder and recently appointed chief executive officer, Hasegawa’s primary job is to help find the perfect blend of taste and nutrition through massive data harvesting and machine learning. He’ll also be instrumental in linking up Glico’s internal research with outside AI firms like PFN to accelerate the development of healthier foods.