Hello.
My name is Kotaro Yonemaru, and I am an intern at the Institute for International Strategy and Information Analysis, Inc. (IISIA).

In Vol. 1, published last week, we discussed the importance of “making judgments together with AI,” drawing on our experience at the 40th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI2026).
Vol. 1 is available here: https://iisia.jp/intern-perspectives-on-ai-and-social-contribution-initiatives-vol-1/

Although it was our first article in this series, we were very pleased that so many people took the time to read it. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all of our readers.

In this second installment, as announced last week, I would like to share my own reflections on the theme of “AI-enabled governance as seen by an intern.”

Let me begin with a question.

Were you able to ask someone a good question today?

Now that AI has become part of our daily lives, we are able to access information at a speed that would once have been unimaginable. Search engines can lead us directly to the information we want. If we ask ChatGPT a question, an answer comes back within seconds.

In other words, the gap caused by a lack of access to information is rapidly narrowing.

However, when I attended the 40th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, held in Takasaki this June, I experienced a somewhat strange feeling.

Even in a place where leading researchers gathered and cutting-edge AI technologies were presented, the central issue was not simply “the accuracy of AI.”
Rather, it was “the quality of the question.”

Not “how to use AI,” but “what to ask AI.”

I began to feel that the essence of the AI era may be hidden in this phrase.

In economics, there is a concept known as information asymmetry. It refers to a situation in which one party in a transaction or market possesses more information, or higher-quality information, than another party. Such disparities in information have long been regarded as a major cause of market failures and unfair transactions.

In fact, the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph Stiglitz for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information. It may also be said that consulting firms, which have become highly popular career destinations among University of Tokyo students, have long prospered precisely because of this information asymmetry.

Yet today, with the rise of AI, information asymmetry in our daily lives is rapidly being resolved. We are entering an era in which anyone can access the same information.

Then what will the next gap be?

I would like to call it the “question gap.”

It was my experience at the Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence that led me to this idea.

At the conference, many presentations addressed evaluation criteria and legal frameworks for implementing AI in society. What I felt there was the difficulty of defining what should count as “good AI.”

One of the questions raised at the conference was whether an AI capable of replacing everything humans do would truly bring happiness.

Should AI be evaluated only by its capabilities?
Or should we also design the kind of life and society that lies beyond those capabilities?

This is not merely a question about AI itself.
Rather, it is a question of how human beings should design the questions by which we evaluate AI.

The same applies to our daily lives.

If we ask ChatGPT, “Please explain the impact of AI adoption on organizational decision-making,” it will likely provide a general textbook-style answer, referring to efficiency, data utilization, and support for human judgment.

However, if we ask, “In Japanese companies, if AI is introduced into the processes of internal approval, authorization, and responsibility allocation, where will decision-making responsibility reside — with management, frontline staff, or the AI system? Please discuss this also in light of labor shortages caused by Japan’s declining birthrate and aging population,” then even on the same theme, we can obtain a much deeper and more concrete answer that addresses institutions, organizations, and structures of responsibility.

In a world where AI capabilities become increasingly standardized, what creates a difference is the power to ask questions.

There has long been much discussion about improving AI literacy and closing the digital divide. Unfortunately, however, many of these discussions remain at the level of learning how to use tools.

What is truly needed may be the ability to think for ourselves about what should be asked.

Through my work as an intern involved in value creation using AI, I have come to feel that the Kusunoki Project, which IISIA advances as a social contribution initiative, serves precisely as a practical arena for cultivating this ability.

Learning Python programming means learning how to accurately put into words what we want a computer to do.

Building a RAG system, which is one of the themes of Kusunoki Project Phase I, means designing how specific information should be combined in response to specific questions.

Constructing an automated cryptocurrency trading system, which is the theme of Kusunoki Project Phase II, means thinking through what should be treated as signals in the market and under what rules decisions should be made.

All of these are, in essence, practical opportunities to train the power to ask questions.

Learning technology is not about becoming a person who is used by AI.
It is about becoming a person who can pose questions to AI.

I also feel strongly, through the Kusunoki Project, that the deep experiential knowledge accumulated by those who have long made judgments within organizations and local communities can become one of the greatest assets supporting the quality of questions in the AI era.

Takeo Harada, Founder and CEO of IISIA, has proposed the concept of “AI-enabled governance.”

This concept refers to the fundamental reconstruction of human governance capacity, decision-making capacity, and social design capacity through the use of AI.

What should governance look like in an AI-driven society?

Perhaps the essence of AI-enabled governance also lies in the power to ask questions.

As AI continues to advance, human beings must continue to ask high-quality questions.

In public administration, business management, local communities, and individual learning alike, the ability to decide what should be asked may become the true source of competitiveness in the AI era.

I myself continue to approach my internship while asking, “Was I able to ask a good question today?”

With this question in mind, I will continue reporting on the activities and real-world initiatives of IISIA.

In the final installment, Vol. 3, we plan to address the theme of “What It Means for an Intern to Work at a ‘Zebra-type’ Think Tank.”

In general, a “zebra-type” company refers to a company that seeks sustainable growth by balancing the pursuit of profit with contributions to society.

From the real perspective of an intern, I will share what makes IISIA different from ordinary companies. We hope you will look forward to the next installment.

Applications are currently open for Kusunoki Project Phase I and Kusunoki Project Phase II, Second Term.

In the AI era, competitiveness will not be determined simply by knowing how to use tools.
It will depend on the ability to ask questions.

As a first step, we sincerely hope that many people will take this opportunity to participate.

■ Kusunoki Project Phase I
Basic Python programming course led by IISIA student interns
Apply here:
URL: https://form.run/@bdg-ue4WeHBmMtMJjbg4fC7N

■ Kusunoki Project Phase II, Second Term
Building an automated cryptocurrency trading system incorporating AI algorithms
Apply here:
URL: https://form.run/@bdg-kO0jFR6y2Z4Bi3PpNXUS

For further details, please visit:
URL: https://haradatakeo.com/news/513704/

If you found this article interesting, it would be a great encouragement to our internship activities.

We would be grateful if you could share it through social media and other channels.

The views expressed in this article are the personal reflections of the author and do not represent the official views of IISIA.

Kotaro Yonemaru
Intern, Institute for International Strategy and Information Analysis, Inc.