Why Japan will profit the most from artificial intelligence
The country’s shrinking population and aversion to mass immigration mean it is well placed to embrace robots and AI in the workforce
A resident of the Silver Wing Social Care elderly care home in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward chats happily to a staff member in the facility’s communal area, while in a nearby room another senior is being helped by a rehabilitation specialist to walk again after a fall last month. These workers never take a day off, never complain and don’t need to be paid, for they are robots.
Silver Wing Social Care provides a glimpse into the future of Japan and indeed other industrialised nations as they follow its path to ageing societies and labour shortages. The company’s flagship care facility began using robots to help care for residents four years ago after being selected by the city government as a test project.
Japan is entering uncharted territory for a modern economy. A consistently low birth rate has shrunk the working-age population by around 10 million since its mid-1990s peak, with another 20 million set to disappear from workplaces in the coming decades. The situation is becoming critical, with nearly 1.5 vacancies for every jobseeker and chronic shortages in sectors such as nursing care, manufacturing, construction and parcel delivery.
At a time when the government is pressuring companies to cut infamously long working hours, raise wages and ensure holidays are taken, and in a country still unwilling to countenance mass immigration, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) look to be the only solutions.
