Japan’s Minister for Digital Transformation Hisashi Matsumoto has declared the nation will become the easiest place in the world to develop AI apps, thanks to legal changes that mean organizations won’t need to secure consent to use some personal information.

To make that happen, Japan’s government on Tuesday approved amendments to the nation’s Personal Information Protection Act that remove the requirement for opt-in consent before sharing personal data.

The changes only apply to data that poses little risk of infringing individuals’ rights, and when developers use it to compile statistics for research purposes. Even health-related data comes under the amendments, if it can improve public health.

Facial scans are also fair game. The amendments require those who acquire facial images to explain how they handle the data, but offering a chance to opt out won’t be mandatory.

Collecting the image of a child aged under 16 will require parental approval, a “best interests” test will apply when considering use of data that describes minors.

Organizations that collect the wrong data, or maliciously use it to harm citizens, will face fines equivalent to the profit they make from improperly using data. Japan’s government will also implement fines for obtaining data through fraudulent means.

But in the event of a data leak, organizations will not need to notify impacted citizens if there is little risk of harm to individuals.

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Minister Matsumoto said Japan needs this legislative tweak because current laws represent “a very big obstacle to the development, and utilization of AI in Japan.”

“We must prevent this from happening,” he said, because without access to data Japan will struggle to develop and deploy useful AI.

Despite its reputation as a hotbed of technology, Japan has been markedly slow to digitize government services. These amendments are aimed, in part, at making sure Japan is not slow to catch the AI wave. ®

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