Japan opposes monopoly of technology giants on artificial intelligence

By Alimat Aliyeva

The Japanese antitrust authority said it is exploring the fast-growing market for generative artificial intelligence to promote fair competition amid the dominance of American technology giants in the field of semiconductors and specialized talent needed for development, Azernews reports.

Rapid progress in the field of artificial intelligence technologies has prompted the Japanese Fair Trade Commission to assess antitrust and competitive risks based on public opinion on this topic. The Commission will collect and analyze business and user feedback until November 22. The first final report is expected to be published next spring.

The development of generative artificial intelligence relies on semiconductors optimized for high-speed processing and large amounts of data for model training. The Commission warned that restricting access to such resources could make it impossible for new players to enter the market.

Japan also expressed concern that U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp holds about 80 percent of the global market share for semiconductors used for generative artificial intelligence, and the Commission said data was also concentrated among several companies.

The Commission also identified five additional risks, including the use of financial power by IT giants to monopolize expertise and prioritize their products and services based on artificial intelligence. Outside Japan, regulators are also seeking to understand the current state of generative artificial intelligence. In January, the United States requested information on corporate alliances and investments related to generative artificial intelligence among large IT companies, and the European Union and South Korea launched their own investigations.

"Although generative artificial intelligence will bring many benefits to the economy and society, we will study how to ensure its proper implementation," Tetsuya Fujimoto, Secretary General of the Commission, said at a press conference on Wednesday.