Yahoo Japan has announced that all 11,000 of its employees must now use AI (Artificial Intelligence) in their daily work. The goal is to double productivity by 2028 by using AI to handle routine and time-consuming tasks.
What Will AI Be Used For?
Employees are now expected to use AI tools for:
- Research
- Writing meeting notes
- Managing expenses
- Analyzing competitors
These are tasks that usually take up about 30% of an employee’s work time, including searching, drafting, and paperwork.
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Yahoo Japan’s AI Tools
The company has already built its own AI tools like SeekAI, which helps with expense claims and finding data quickly. AI will also:
- Create meeting agendas
- Summarize discussions
- Proofread reports
This allows employees to focus more on important decisions and strategic planning rather than basic tasks.
Other Companies Are Doing the Same
Yahoo Japan isn’t the only company making AI use mandatory:
- Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke told teams they must use AI unless they can prove it’s not helpful for a task.
- Amazon is also pushing hard on AI. CEO Andy Jassy said fewer workers will be needed as AI takes over some jobs.
- Amazon has already cut over 27,000 jobs since 2022.
- In Amazon’s Ring division, employees must use AI if they want a promotion.
- Amazon says its AI coding assistant has saved the company the equivalent of 4,500 years of work.
Is Mandatory AI a Good Idea?
While companies say AI increases productivity, not everyone agrees. Some research shows that forced use of AI might actually reduce productivity in certain cases.
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai says AI is a tool to help with boring tasks, allowing people to focus on more valuable work. However, many employees, especially at Amazon, are worried about losing their jobs.
Yahoo Japan’s move to make AI use mandatory for all is a big step—and the world will be watching to see if it actually helps or hurts productivity.
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