Launch of the Prototype Version of the "AI Application for Supporting the Drafting of Answers to Diet Questions" on Government AI GENAI
Starting today, the Digital Agency is launching a prototype version of the "AI Application for Supporting the Drafting of Answers to Diet Questions" (hereinafter referred to as "Diet Answer Support AI") on Government AI GENAI. This tool will be available to approximately 180,000 government employees to assist with drafting answers to Diet questions.
Preparing answers to Diet questions is a particularly demanding task for government officials, requiring high accuracy and consistency within tight deadlines. Officials must carry out a wide range of tasks in a short period, from confirming question content and searching and analyzing past answers and supporting documents, to drafting the answers themselves. Furthermore, as social issues become more complex, the number of considerations, such as understanding policy backgrounds and histories and addressing follow-up questions, continue to increase. Consequently, significant time is spent on routine tasks such as retrieving documents, organizing information, and checking terminology and consistency, making it challenging to devote enough time to accurately grasp the intent of questions and draft clear, easy-to-understand answers.
To address these challenges, the Digital Agency is developing Diet Answer Support AI to improve the efficiency and quality of drafting answers to Diet questions. The tool leverages generative AI for information retrieval and organization, draft answer generation, and content verification support. In developing the application, 102 experienced officials from 16 ministries and agencies were selected through an open call to serve as evaluators. Based on actual administrative practice, the Digital Agency collected wide-ranging feedback on screen layout, usability, and required functions, and held continuous discussions with officials. Some of the feedback and suggestions for improvement have already been incorporated into functional updates.
During the 222nd Extraordinary Session of the Diet, the prototype version is being provided on a trial basis to assess its effectiveness, usability, and output quality in daily operations. Based on the results and user feedback, necessary improvements will be made before the planned full-scale rollout during the Ordinary Session of the Diet starting in January next year.
Please note that Diet Answer Support AI is intended to assist officials in drafting answers to Diet questions, not to replace human review or final decision-making. By supporting the search and organization of past answers and supporting documents, as well as generating draft answers, the tool seeks to reduce the burden of information gathering and document preparation on officials. This allows them to dedicate more time to examining answer content while thoroughly considering the intent of questions and the policy background.
However, generative AI carries risks such as "hallucinations" (producing plausible but incorrect or unsubstantiated content), and the accuracy and validity of AI outputs cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, as a general rule, information and draft answers from the AI will not be adopted exactly as provided. Government officials themselves must cross-check AI outputs against supporting documents to thoroughly verify factual accuracy, consistency with past answers and government policies, and the appropriateness of phrasing. Furthermore, policy judgments, the formulation of official government views, and the finalization of answers will remain the responsibility of government officials, and decision-making will never be delegated to AI. Answers to Diet questions will be delivered responsibly by ministers and other respondents, based on draft answers that have been thoroughly reviewed and coordinated by the officials in charge and relevant divisions.