Specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters Japan released results of their latest survey looking at how employees are using ChatGPT and AI tools in the workplace at both Japanese companies and gaishikei (foreign-affiliated companies).

Is the emergence of ChatGPT bringing generative AI closer to the workplace in Japan to change the image of AI as we know it?  Here is a summary of the top findings from the survey, which was separated into “AI” and “Chat GPT” sections:

AI: Familiarity with AI among company employees in their 20s

·       62% of company employees in their 20s use AI tools for work.

·       44% of company employees do not know how AI is implemented at their workplace.

·       90% of company employees are aware of the changes and benefits of AI in terms of increased productivity and efficiency.

·       Around 40% of company employees indicated that their concerns about AI are that it may contain biased information and bias, which could lead to issues of impartiality and accuracy.

ChatGPT: A quarter of company employees still know little about ChatGPT

·       77% of company employees use it in their work.

·       55% of company employees say that using it has improved their work efficiency.

·       Employees in their 20s and 30s feel that their work efficiency has improved more through using ChatGPT vs40s and over feel that it has not.

·       Top 3 reasons why work efficiency has not improved:

1. ‘No opportunity to use it in business itself’ (52%)

2.  ‘Sometimes I don’t get an appropriate response’ (40%)

3.  ‘Dissatisfied with the quality and accuracy of responses’ (26%)

·       Around 30% of company employees say that it brings benefits in terms of multilingualism and contribution to international business.

·       Around 70% of company employees cited ‘providing incorrect information or inaccurate answers’ as a risk for using ChatGPT.