Tag - ai

 
Menu
Search
 
August 31, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

AI

Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer; Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI’s former chief research officer; Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer; and Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer at a military ceremony in Arlington, Va., in June 2025. The four current and former executives were pronounced lieutenant colonels in a new unit, Detachment 201, which will advise the Army on new technologies for potential combat.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2025
Silicon Valley is in its ‘hard tech’ era
Instead of the tap-to-pay apps of a decade ago like Clinkle and Bump, young companies are now making unmanned aerial drones stocked with AI-guided Barracuda cruise missiles.
The Palantir logo and a rising stock graph are seen in this illustration taken Aug. 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2025
Palantir’s meteoric rise has investors scrambling to justify valuation
Shares of the defense maker closed at another all-time high Friday, bringing gains since its 2021 debut to near 2,500%.
A Yomiuri Shimbun staff prepares to distribute a special edition of the newspaper on the tariff deal between the United States and Japan, in Tokyo on July 23.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 8, 2025
Major Japan newspaper sues 'free-riding' AI firm Perplexity
The Yomiuri Shimbun is seeking damages of $14.7 million from the U.S.-based AI firm for using its articles "without permission."
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2025
SoftBank swings to profit after Masayoshi Son’s AI bets pay off
SoftBank Group swung to a quarterly profit, riding on gains from its bets on Nvidia and startups in a boon for founder Masayoshi Son’s bets on artificial intelligence technologies.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a talk session with SoftBank group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on February 3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 6, 2025
OpenAI releases two ‘open’ AI models after DeepSeek’s success
The release is a new business strategy for the ChatGPT developer and allows users to customize and run AI systems themselves.
Reflecting CEO Masayoshi Son's artificial intelligence-focused strategy, SoftBank Group has boosted its stakes in Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025
SoftBank builds Nvidia and TSMC stakes under Son’s focus on AI gear
SoftBank Group raised its stake in Nvidia to about $3 billion by the end of March and bought around $330 million worth of TSMC shares.
China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new, ruthlessly efficient production model powered by automation, AI and state-guided industrial optimization.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2025
China’s unbeatable new production model export
The more pressing concern, however, is not what China exports, but how. Global cost structures are indeed being reshaped.
A person visits the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 4, 2025
AI search pushing an already weakened media ecosystem to the brink
A recent study has revealed that AI-generated summaries now appearing in Google searches discourage users from clicking through to source articles.
Microsoft is among a group of tech giants that are pouring money into artificial intelligence in order to get ahead of the competition.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2025
The AI race has Big Tech spending $344 billion this year
Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta and Alphabet are pouring money into artificial intelligence in order to get a leg up on the competition.
U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates after signing executive orders on artificial intelligence at the “Winning the AI Race” Summit in Washington on July 23.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2025
Will Trump’s tech policies propel U.S. success against China?
As China mobilizes all its resources for an all-out contest for technological supremacy, the U.S. cannot afford economic inefficiencies and to push its closest partners away.
A synchronous speaker stands in a dubbing studio in Munich. The rise of AI raises the question of whether voice dubbing actors will be needed in the future.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 1, 2025
Voice actors push back as AI threatens dubbing industry
As AI-generated voices become more sophisticated and cost-effective, voice actor industry associations are calling for tighter regulations.
AI developer Alt, which recently disclosed accounting irregularities, has filed for bankruptcy protection under the civil rehabilitation law at the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Japanese AI developer Alt goes bust after accounting fraud
Suspicions of accounting fraud surfaced at the company in April this year.
Apple executives John Giannandrea (left) and Craig Federighi. Shares of the company declined as much as 1.5% to $210.82, reaching a session low in New York trading.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 30, 2025
Apple loses fourth AI researcher in a month to Meta’s Superintelligence team
Meta previously lured away the leader of the Apple foundation models group, Ruoming Pang, with a compensation package valued at more than $200 million.
A Magic Bot Z1 by Magiclab is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2025
China’s AI strategy relies on frenzy and frenemies
China’s current AI frenzy represents the best and worst of classic capitalism: The competition propels innovation at a rapid clip, but not all of the companies will survive.
The Foreign Ministry will implement a large-scale organizational reform on Friday, including the establishment of an economic security division under the Economic Affairs Bureau.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
Japan's Foreign Ministry to set up economic security division
It will be the first time in 19 years for the ministry to carry out a large-scale organizational reform involving multiple bureaus.
Personal Information Protection Commission Chairman Satoru Tezuka in Tokyo on July 15
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 26, 2025
Privacy safeguards needed to help fuel AI growth in Japan, panel chair says
A law revision was postponed during this year's ordinary parliamentary session amid strong opposition from business circles toward a system involving fines.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 26, 2025
Chinese Premier Li Qiang takes aim at AI ‘monopoly’ as U.S. effort quickens
China will spearhead the creation of an international organization to jointly develop AI, the country’s No. 2 official said.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (center) responds to questions during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, China, on July 17. Nvidia is one of the companies at the heart of the global artificial intelligence movement.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 25, 2025
DeepSeek and Trump’s plan steer agenda at China’s premier AI forum
This year's edition of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference takes place at a critical juncture in the U.S.-Chinese tech rivalry.
An image of the simulation technology developed by Fujitsu
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 24, 2025
Fujitsu and Nagoya University develop AI-based tech to spread ride-hailing
The new technology will be offered to local governments struggling to secure means of transportation for elderly residents and business operators facing a shortage of drivers.
McKinsey’s 2025 Technology Trends Outlook, published Wednesday, says that the use of “sovereign AI” is a trend gaining significant global traction, including in Japan.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2025
Japan leans into homegrown AI amid rising competition
Japan is among the countries aiming to develop localized artificial intelligence models to target national priorities.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER