“We Canceled AI Because It Would Be Unfair”—I Think I Saw Why Japanese Companies Are Declining

The other day, I heard an update about an acquaintance’s company deciding not to adopt Claude.

Apparently, there were two main reasons.

The first was cost. Giving every employee an account would be expensive, so the company considered limiting the rollout to departments where the greatest benefits were expected. But management worried that people would complain, “Why does only that department get it?” In the end, the company abandoned the rollout.

The other reason was resistance from employees.

Many departments were apparently opposed to adopting AI. My acquaintance suspected that they were afraid AI would take their jobs or threaten their positions within the company.

When I heard the story, I thought it was quintessentially Japanese corporate behavior.

If Everyone Cannot Benefit, It Is Better for No One to Benefit

It is perfectly natural for different departments to need different tools.

A development team may need high-performance computers, while a sales team may need other tools. If a company starts saying, “It is unfair, so everyone must receive the same thing,” it will become impossible to make any capital investment at all.

AI is no different. Start by introducing it in departments where it is likely to be effective, confirm the results, and then expand its use.

Instead, out of fear that someone might resent another person’s advantage, the company throws away the possibility that everyone might eventually benefit.

What an impressive commitment to equality.

Even more troublesome is the fear that AI will threaten people’s jobs or positions.

When new technology is introduced, some work will become unnecessary. That is precisely why companies should move toward using the technology to create new value. But when preserving existing jobs becomes the highest priority, change itself becomes the enemy.

The result is an organization where no one takes responsibility, no one suffers a loss, and no one moves forward.

Why Japan’s Economy Is Shrinking

Recently, I have often seen news reports about Japan falling in the global GDP rankings.

The weak yen has a major impact on rankings based on nominal GDP. But considering Japan’s long-term economic stagnation, I do not think organizational cultures like this one are irrelevant.

When a new technology appears, one company asks, “What can we do with this?” Another asks, “Who will be inconvenienced by this?”

You do not need to ask an economist which company will grow.

Japanese companies once eagerly adopted technologies from overseas, improved them, and competed in global markets. Somewhere along the way, they became organizations unable to introduce even a single AI tool because they feared creating a sense of unfairness among employees.

Of course, this is only one example from one acquaintance’s company. Even so, having heard and witnessed similar stories repeatedly in Japan’s IT industry, I cannot regard it as particularly unusual.

Even If Japan Does Not Grow, I Do Not Have to Stagnate with It

So how should this aspect of Japanese organizational culture be changed?

To be honest, I am no longer very interested in that question.

There are limits to what an individual can do to change decision-making at large corporations or the nature of Japanese society. And I certainly do not have enough free time to go around persuading every person who opposes adopting AI.

It is far more realistic to master AI myself, raise my productivity, and find clients who value that ability.

Today, even an individual can build things that once would have required a company to invest a great deal of money. If Japanese companies do not value those capabilities, looking overseas is also an option.

Growth in a country’s overall GDP and improvement in my own income and quality of life are separate matters.

Japan’s economy may be stagnant, but my abilities do not have to stagnate with it.

In fact, if the people around me reject new technology, that means fewer competitors for those of us who use it.

When I heard that my acquaintance’s company had decided not to adopt Claude, my first thought was that it was a waste.

But on reflection, it is not entirely bad news for freelancers like me.

If companies refuse to let their employees use AI, individuals can gain an advantage simply by using it.

I was lamenting the decline of Japanese companies, but apparently they are doing quite a lot to improve my competitive position.