Japan bets on proactive cyberdefense and on AI niches instead of a homegrown model
Japan's former government cybersecurity chief, Taira Masaaki, explains in an interview with nippon.com Japan's shift toward active cyberdefense under the Law for Strengthening Cyber Response Capabilities, enacted in May 2025. The law allows police and the Self-Defense Forces to identify and neutralize servers posing a threat before an attack is carried out. Taira rules out competing in large language models and proposes focusing resources on VLA models, vertical AI and a domestic alternative to Palantir.
In 45 seconds
- The May 2025 law allows police and the Self-Defense Forces to access malicious servers and neutralize their ability to attack, without touching the content of communications.
- Taira cites the 2023 cyberattack that paralyzed logistics at the port of Nagoya, attributed to hackers serving a foreign power.
- Japan will not seek to compete with giant foundation models such as Gemini and is betting on VLA models for robots, drones and autonomous vehicles, and on vertical AI.
Read the full story at nippon.com
IASummary generated by artificial intelligence from a story by nippon.com. It may contain errors: the original source prevails.
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