Japan Business Systems Launches Pilot Tests at Ten Local Governments for a Free Trial Service for an AI Chatbot to Respond to Enquiries from Residents to Local Governments

Japan Business Systems, Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Yukihiro Makita, President; hereinafter “JBS”) reports that the free trial service, AI Staff General Guide Service in which an AI chatbot responds to residents’ enquiries to local governments, is being used by ten local governments in pilot tests as of February 20, 2019.

Local government operation and administration is becoming increasingly challenging due to declining populations, fiscal difficulties, and the needs of residents becoming more diverse and complex. In order to handle such issues, JBS, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Takashi Morisaki, President; hereinafter “MRI”), and INES Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Etsuroh Mori, Representative Director; hereinafter “INES”) have been working on the use of AI in the field of public administration, based on the Region-Tech Initiative (*).

A pilot test was held for the AI Staff General Guide Service with the cooperation of 35 local governments from February 2018. Based on assessments provided by local governments, the service underwent full-blown development, and was launched in September 2018.

As of February 2019, the following ten local governments are using the free trial service for the AI Staff General Guide Service.
Toda City, Saitama Prefecture; Sagami City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture; Mishima City, Shizuoka Prefecture; Fukuroi City, Shizuoka Prefecture; Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture; Minamichita Town, Aichi Prefecture; Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture; Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture; and Uto City, Kumamoto Prefecture

Going forward, JBS plans to expand the fields the service can handle based on user feedback, and aims to enhance the functions and contents such as multilingual response, gradually launching optional services. Along with MRI and INES, JBS intends to undertake the resolution of community issues utilizing digital technologies.

JBS Jointly Launches a Service with Mitsubishi Research Institute to Respond to Resident Enquiries Using AI (September 4, 2018)

Service development: JBS, MRI
Sales agency: INES

• Region-Tech Initiative
  Region-Tech Initiative
  (From the MRI website)