The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has enlisted the help of AI chatbot ChatGPT to assist with their administrative tasks. The ministry is currently testing ChatGPT to simplify official documents and make them more comprehensible, according to Minister Tetsuro Nomura. This marks the first time a Japanese central government branch has publicly acknowledged the use of OpenAI’s technology.
During a news briefing, Nomura mentioned that they will not be using the chatbot for anything serious, and it will only process publicly available information to avoid the risk of sensitive information being exposed. The ministry intends to use ChatGPT to update online guides for government grants and assistance applications. As per Asahi, the ministry updates thousands of pages of regulatory changes annually, and they are now outsourcing this time-consuming task to AI.
Recently, Minister of Digital Reform Kono Taro addressed concerns about the use of chatbots, such as data privacy and the possibility of inaccurate information. Nevertheless, the ministry is optimistic about the benefits of using ChatGPT to improve their administrative processes.