In an apparent first for Japan, an opposition member delivered questions prepared by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT of OpenAI to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a lower house committee hearing on Wednesday, March 29.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks about his parent policy at a press conference at his official residence on March 17, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan.
ChatGPT in Japanese Parliament
The Straits Times reported that Mr. Kazuma Nakatani of the Constitutional Democratic Party said during a session of the parliament on Wednesday that he asked ChatGPT about possible questions it might ask their prime minister if it was a member of the lower house.
He used these responses to formulate a question to Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the parliamentary discussion regarding a draft amended related to the COVID-19 pandemic policy.
These questions drawn up by ChatGPT included asking the prime minister whether he has listened to the opinion of local government and healthcare workers enough to contribute to the revision of their COVID policy and asking him to enumerate the responses of the people involved.
Although the AI chatbot is still new in the parliament, the discussions using it are highly regimented. The questions were submitted in advance so the premier and most Japanese government ministers would be prepared with their responses.
Nakatani said that this was the first time that AI was used to question the prime minister during deliberations. He asked ChatGPT's questions to Mr. Kishida, who responded with text prepared with the help of relevant government officials.
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The Prime Minister's Response
According to The Mainichi's report, the prime minister responded that the bill for COVID policy had been amended to respond to the opinions and requests of involved parties sufficiently.
Nakatani also unveiled the answer proposed by ChatGPT, which stated that the proposed bill is working sufficiently to reflect the opinions of the local government and healthcare professionals. Nakatani noted that the chatbot's response seemed more sincere and focused than the prime minister's answer.
Nakatani then asked these questions directly to the prime minister, and Kishida responded, "This bill has been amended to sufficiently respond to the opinions and requests (of involved parties)," among other comments.
Mr. Kishida responded that his answer was more specific in naming parties involved,w which drew laughter in the committee chamber. He noted that conversational AI has the potential to help administrative officials efficiently use information.
Tech Giants Vs. AI Experiments
Elon Musk and a range of tech experts called on Wednesday a pause on AI experiments amid its growing popularity today to allow time to ensure that it is safe, Science Alert reported.
More than 1,000 people, including Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter that called for the pause of these experiments. The move was prompted by the release of ChatGPT-4 from the Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
As per the company, the latest model of ChatGPT is more powerful than its previous version, as it is now capable of generating tracts of texts using even the briefest prompts.
The open letter "Pause Giant AI Experiments," says that AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can cause profound risks for humanity and society. These powerful systems should be developed only once humans are confident with their effects and their risks are manageable.
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