World of HR: Japan bets billions on robot workers

In recent years, companies in Japan have grappled with how to respond to a shrinking labor population. They have offered employees more parental leave and access to dating services, and hired more foreign workers. Now, some are exploring an emerging solution: the next phase of AI.

At SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 in April, some employers debuted AI employees. Like human employees, they have their own email addresses and jobs, and proactively take on tasks, Japan Today reported.

“The labor problem in Tokyo is not only about headcount; it’s also about coordination,” Xiankun Wu, founder and CEO of Silicon Valley-based AI startup Kuse, told Japan Today. “AI employees [such as Junior] fit in not as a replacement for people, but as a new layer in the organization that can take responsibility for recurring work.”

Some of these AI workers, like Kuse’s “Junior,” are already taking on full-time roles at companies, where they’re onboarded just like human employees.

Meanwhile, 44 companies, including Softbank, NEC, and Fujitsu, are participating in a nationwide physical AI initiative led by government-funded tech firm Noetra to develop AI systems that can power robots and other machines, according to Bloomberg.

In June, the government announced it would invest the equivalent of $2.3 billion in physical AI, the Japan Times reported. Its goal is to put 10 million humanoid robots to work by 2040 to supplement talent shortages in industries like eldercare and manufacturing, Fortune reported.

“For years, the AI conversation has focused on how technology can improve knowledge work. The next challenge is how AI can help people perform physical work more safely, consistently and productively,” Peter Grassi, CEO of Fujitsu in Oceania, said in comments reported by IT Brief Australia. “Physical AI is about augmenting people, not replacing them.”