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Japan has been one of the fastest countries to embrace the use of new artificial intelligence tools and has the potential to accelerate its economy<\/a> and tech sector by going further, according to Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s digitalization push got a boost during the pandemic as businesses adapted to new work-from-home arrangements, and Tsusaka believes Japan has made up lost ground after previously being a laggard.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Japanese have caught up. And I think it will continue to accelerate at this point because the technology enables things that we haven\u2019t been able to do,\u201d Tsusaka said in an interview. \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough people<\/a>, our population is aging, and yet generative AI has the power to accelerate growth.\u201d<\/p>\n The Microsoft Corp. executive said she\u2019s particularly interested in helping skill up more women in the local workforce. It\u2019s one of the US company\u2019s four focus areas in Japan, headed by\u00a0a $2.9 billion investment<\/a>\u00a0over the next two years to scale up its AI data centers in the country.<\/p>\n The announcement of that new funding in April\u00a0lifted<\/a>\u00a0the country\u2019s utility and industrial shares on expectations of rising power demand. The country\u2019s\u00a0surging energy needs<\/a>\u00a0have spurred Tokyo\u2019s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to lobby local officials about restarting the country\u2019s \u2014 and the world\u2019s \u2014 largest nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n Tsusaka identified cybersecurity as another key priority, because \u201cyou can\u2019t use AI without security. It\u2019s security, security, security. And then you get to use AI.\u201d Microsoft works closely with the Japanese government \u2014 at both national and local level \u2014 and businesses to ensure technology is deployed responsibly and safely, she said. Still, she sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of tech.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all were wowed when the internet came,\u201d she said. \u201cMobile phones now are part of our bodies. But generative AI, I think, is a technology revolution that surpasses all of those.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the Eye on AI newsletter to stay abreast of how AI is shaping the future of business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n