Yuki Ishikawa, Former VP of Generative AI / LLM at Mercari, Establishes New Company Jizai. Launching Generative AI Product Development, Consulting, and Artificial General Robot Development.
Jizai, Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO Yuki Ishikawa, hereafter "Jizai"), led by Yuki Ishikawa, former Executive Officer VP of Generative AI / LLM at Mercari, Inc. and CEO of Souzoh, Inc., announces the commencement of development of Artificial General Robots (AGR), as well as the provision of consulting services and product development related to Generative AI technologies, including Large Language Models.
Background
In Japan and other developed countries, rapid aging populations and declining workforces are becoming serious social issues. Japan's population is predicted to decrease to about 100 million by 2050, with an accelerating decline in the working-age population ratio (*1). This demographic change may lead to labor shortages in various fields, lack of support for the daily lives of increasing elderly populations, increased burden of housework and childcare due to the rise in dual-income households, and potentially slower economic growth.
AI and robotics are considered potential solutions to these challenges. Productivity improvements through Generative AI could significantly boost GDP over a decade, with even greater effects expected when combined with robotics.
However, while Generative AI and LLM technologies are advancing rapidly, applications that convert this into actual social value are still developing, and most of the Generative AI x robotics field is still at the research stage.
Jizai was established as a company to create social value by dramatically advancing cutting-edge technology exploration and social implementation. We aim to solve various social issues in Japan and globally by quickly implementing world-class research technologies from AI and robotics papers, and using real data from customers and markets to further improve AI and explore technologies.
About Artificial General Robots
Artificial General Robots (AGR) refer to robots that can autonomously perform general tasks with high success rates in various environments, beyond conventional robots, by combining advanced AI technology with hardware.
Jizai will develop flexible and adaptive robot control compared to conventional robots, using control by large language models (LLM) and vision-language models (VLM).
By researching and developing hardware that enables control and task execution through multimodal AI, we aim to realize Artificial General Robots (AGR).
- 1 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
CEO Yuki Ishikawa Profile
After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Yuki joined Nintendo Co., Ltd. in 2012. In 2014, he joined Moi Inc. (TwitCasting), engaging in various development and new business launches. He joined Souzoh, Inc. (former) of the Mercari Group in June 2017. After transferring to Mercari, Inc., he became Executive Officer VP of Product at Merpay, Inc. in July 2020. From January 2021, he served as CEO of Souzoh, Inc. In July 2022, he concurrently assumed the position of Executive Officer VP at Mercari, Inc. From May 2023, he became Executive Officer VP of Generative AI / LLM at Mercari, Inc. He left Mercari in June 2024 and founded Jizai, Inc.
Company Overview
Company Name: Jizai
Representative: Yuki Ishikawa
Location: Todai-mae HiRAKU GATE, 2-3-10 Mukaigaoka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Business Overview: Development, provision, and consulting of advanced technology services such as Generative AI and robotics Corporate
Website: http://jizai.ai/
Inquiries regarding this matter
Company name: Jizai, Inc.
Contact person: PR Representative
E-Mail: info@jizai.ai