A survey by Jiji of 2,000 Japanese adults found that nearly one in four (24.9%) believe advanced artificial intelligence will eventually replace their friends and family.
The concern is most pronounced among younger respondents, with roughly one-third of those aged 18–59 holding this belief.
The finding comes as generative AI adoption spreads in Japan—30.8% of all respondents use tools like ChatGPT, primarily for work (64.7% of users) and household tasks, though a small but notable minority (12.8%) say they use AI to process emotional worries and complaints.
What happened
A Jiji survey of 2,000 people across Japan found that 24.9% believe advanced AI will eventually replace their friends and families, while 65.1% disagreed. The belief was strongest among younger respondents: 32.5% of those aged 18–29, 30.1% in their 30s, 29.2% in their 40s, and 31.4% in their 50s.
Why it matters
The results reflect growing exposure to generative AI tools like ChatGPT in Japan—30.8% of all respondents use them, rising to 53.3% among those 18–29. Yet the survey shows concerns about AI's role in human connection, even as people adopt it for practical tasks like work (64.7% of users) and household chores (35.3%).
What to watch
Generative AI use varies sharply by age. Adoption drops from 56.2% among those in their 30s to just 21.9% among those in their 60s. A notable 12.8% of users reported relying on AI to express worries and complaints about love and work—suggesting emotional attachment is already emerging among some users.
The Jiji survey, conducted from June 12 over four days with 2,000 respondents aged 18 or older nationwide and a valid response rate of 57.1%, reveals a significant minority of Japanese people expressing concern about AI's ability to replace human relationships. Nearly one-quarter (24.9%) said they believe advanced artificial intelligence will replace their friends and families in the future, while two-thirds (65.1%) disagreed.
Belief in AI replacement is relatively consistent across working-age and early-retirement populations. Among those aged 18–29, 32.5% expressed this belief; 30.1% of respondents in their 30s, 29.2% in their 40s, and 31.4% in their 50s agreed. This uniformity across age cohorts suggests the concern is not driven solely by generational attitudes toward technology but may reflect broader uncertainty about AI's social role.
Generative AI adoption, by contrast, shows a steep age gradient. Overall, 30.8% of respondents said they use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. But among those aged 18–29, usage reached 53.3%; among those in their 30s, 56.2%; those in their 40s, 47.4%; those in their 50s, 27.4%; and those in their 60s, 21.9%. The most common use case is work, cited by 64.7% of users. Household applications—cleaning, cooking, and related tasks—came second at 35.3%. Information-seeking about current affairs was cited by 27.1%, while entertainment uses lagged: 21.7% said they chat with AI about favorite music, characters, and celebrities. A smaller group (12.8%) reported using AI to express worries and complaints about love and work, suggesting emotional reliance on the technology is emerging in pockets even as the broader population remains skeptical of AI's social role.
The Jiji survey captures a moment of tension in Japan's adoption of generative AI. While roughly one-third of the population remains skeptical that AI could replace human relationships—65.1% explicitly rejected this possibility—the quarter who do believe it signals underlying anxieties about the technology's growing presence in daily life. Notably, these concerns are not concentrated among older, less-experienced users; respondents in their 40s and 50s express roughly the same skepticism as those in their 20s and 30s, suggesting the worry cuts across generational lines even as younger cohorts use the tools far more.
The usage data adds nuance to these beliefs. Generative AI adoption in Japan follows a clear age gradient: majority use among under-40s, minority use among those 50 and older. Yet the practical applications remain mostly instrumental—work and household efficiency—while emotional uses remain small but notable. The 12.8% who report using AI to process personal worries suggests that for some segment of users, the technology is already filling an emotional role, even if the broader population has not yet internalized that shift as the norm.
AI-summarized, only the topics you pick — one digest a day via Email, Slack, or Discord.
Free · takes 30 seconds · unsubscribe anytime
Ask AI anything about this article. Q&As are published on this page for other readers too.
OpenAI is previewing Ultrafast mode, powered by Cerebras infrastructure from a ten-billion-dollar partnership…
Snowflake's Observe announced general availability of a redesigned MCP server and new CLI tool that give AI ag…
Tim O'Reilly, the publisher and tech pioneer, is promoting open-source AI—not just open-weight models, but the…
Kog, a French startup founded by Gaël Delalleau, is using deep GPU-level software optimization to accelerate A…
Meta released Glimmer, an open-weight AI model anyone can download and run on their own hardware, this week
AWS published a technical guide demonstrating how to build multi-agent systems that combine models hosted on A…
The AI news that matters, in one minute each morning.
Sign up free