The OECD.AI Policy Navigator

AI Guidelines for Business (Ver1.2), issued on 31 March 2026, provide unified guiding principles for AI governance in Japan. They aim to promote the safe and secure use of AI by helping business actors recognise risks and take voluntary countermeasures across the lifecycle, supporting both innovation and risk reduction through cooperation and a risk-based approach.

ABCI 3.0 is Japan's national AI computing infrastructure that provides access to supercomputing resources for developing sovereign AI capabilities. Operated by AIST and funded through Japan's METI, it delivers 6.2 exaflops of computing power using 6,128 NVIDIA H200 GPUs. The infrastructure supports industry, academia, and government in developing large language models and advancing generative AI research, with priority given to national research institutes, universities, and startups.

"Japan's GenAI Procurement & Utilization Guideline" was formulated in 2025 to establish rules for the procurement and use of generative AI across national government. It creates an AI governance framework requiring each ministry to appoint a Chief AI Officer (CAIO), conduct risk assessments to each generative AI systems, and implement procurement based on specific check sheets. The guideline aims to accelerate adoption of generative AI in government while managing its risks.

Japan’s Artificial Intelligence Basic Plan establishes the government’s policy framework for promoting the research, development and utilisation of AI-related technologies. It sets out basic concepts, policy directions and priority measures, including accelerating AI utilisation, strengthening development capabilities, advancing governance, and promoting societal transformation, together with arrangements for implementation and coordination across government.

Japan’s 2025 AI Act establishes the country’s first dedicated legal framework for artificial intelligence, focusing on promoting research, development, and utilisation rather than imposing strict regulation. The law sets out basic principles and a national policy framework, including a “Basic AI Plan” and coordinated governance structures, while encouraging voluntary action by businesses.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has approved subsidies of up to 72.5 billion yen in total to five companies to improve computational resources for AI development, under the Economic Security Promotion Act. The initiative designates cloud programmes as specified critical products, aiming to strengthen domestic AI infrastructure, reduce reliance on foreign cloud providers, and ensure resilient generative AI service provision in Japan.

Japan’s Roadmap for Smart City Initiatives, issued in 2024 by the Cabinet Office, sets out a phased national framework for advancing smart cities as part of Society 5.0, explicitly incorporating the use of data, AI and large‑scale digital infrastructure—such as platforms supporting data analysis, AI applications and cloud‑based computing—to improve urban management and public services.

A subsidy that lets SMEs purchase pre-approved, off-the-shelf productivity/automation products from a catalogue (including some AI-enabled tools) to accelerate straightforward digital/AI adoption.