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July 09, 2026
 

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AI

The U.S. has an opportunity to use its lead in artificial intelligence technology to create a global governance mechanism to ensure safer, more resilient systems, OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs, Chris Lehane, said.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 14, 2026
OpenAI floats idea of global AI governance body with U.S. and China
Such an organization could resemble the International Atomic Energy Agency, OpenAI Vice President of Global Affairs Chris Lehane says.
Amazon is hoping that AI-powered answers will help keep shoppers from defecting to other sites or chatbots.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 14, 2026
Amazon puts Alexa inside the shopping search bar in AI push
Queries typed into Amazon’s website and mobile app will soon reply, depending on the context, with product comparisons or suggestions generated by AI large language models.
TDK CEO Noboru Saito says the firm is prepared to add investments to ride the global boom in generative artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
TDK ready to step up investment to ride AI wave
CEO Noboru Saito sees the surge of AI applications and services escalating the need for denser and more advanced energy storage.
MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking are all likely to gain access to Anthropic’s artificial intelligence model, Mythos.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Japan megabanks set to win Mythos access after Bessent visit
Mythos access could be granted to MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank as early as the end of May.
A chat window for chatbot Grok. Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is moving with urgency to boost revenue by selling chatbot subscriptions and access to its computing resources before SpaceX’s expected IPO next month.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 14, 2026
Musk’s xAI races to get Wall Street firms to use Grok chatbot
The blitz forms part of a push to bolster revenue ahead of parent company SpaceX’s initial public offering.
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2026
SoftBank profit jumps, emboldens Son to bet more on OpenAI
SoftBank earned a net income of ¥1.83 trillion in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of ¥295.2 billion.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30 last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2026
Investors say they want Trump and Xi to stay out of AI’s way
Whether the U.S. will relax chip export restrictions will be a point of focus at the two leaders’ summit.
Samsung, whose operating profit soared 48-fold in the March quarter, is projected to surpass Apple and Alphabet to rank second only to Nvidia among the world’s most profitable tech companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 12, 2026
South Korea roils market by floating ‘citizen dividend’ from AI gains
The benchmark Kospi sank as much as 5.1%, then pared losses after the influential policy adviser clarified he wanted to tap “excess tax revenue” generated from the AI boom.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, is considering a multibillion-dollar investment in France for an AI data center project, people familiar with the matter says.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2026
SoftBank in talks for major data center project in France
CEO Masayoshi Son is considering a multibillion-dollar investment in the country as part of SoftBank’s broader buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
SoftBank will partner with South Korea’s Cosmos Lab and DeltaX to enable mass production of large-scale battery cells from the fiscal year starting next April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2026
SoftBank plans to make large-scale batteries for AI data centers
SoftBank Corp. will partner with South Korea’s Cosmos Lab and DeltaX to enable mass production from the fiscal year starting next April, the firm said.
Alphabet’s Gemini artificial intelligence model is considered one of the best in the industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 11, 2026
AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world’s biggest company
Over the past year, Alphabet has gone from an artificial intelligence afterthought to the one firm in the market with dominant positions in nearly every aspect of the technology.
A screen shows news footage of the bilateral meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, at a restaurant in Shenzhen, China, on Oct. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2026
Trump and China’s Xi set for talks spanning Iran, nuclear, trade and AI
The two sides are expected to agree to forums to facilitate mutual trade and investment, but many details are still to be discussed.
The plan is meant to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 8, 2026
FSA to develop AI agent to help with customer service at regional banks
The aim is to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son takes the stage with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an AI Conference in Tokyo in February 2025.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2026
OpenAI is so yesterday — even for SoftBank
Liquidity is as important as paper gains. There are already signs that capital markets are souring on Son’s biggest bet.
Mitsubishi UFJ is enhancing its services partly by leveraging expertise from technology giants.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2026
MUFG to form strategic partnership with Google
The two firms will develop a service to assist customers in online shopping and payments with the help of artificial intelligence.
Digital minister Hisashi Matsumoto answers questions at a Lower House plenary session in April.
JAPAN
May 6, 2026
Government to launch AI pilot program to boost efficiency and encourage tech’s adoption
Gennai, a generative artificial intelligence platform developed for internal use by civil servants, will be rolled out across 39 government agencies.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on April 30.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Samsung hits $1 trillion valuation, joining TSMC in elite club
Booming demand for chips used in artificial intelligence saw the world’s largest memory maker’s stock more than quadruple over the past year.
Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, accompanied by his wife, Anna, walks outside a federal courthouse as the trial in Elon Musk's lawsuit over OpenAI's for-profit conversion continues, in Oakland, California, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Musk wanted $80 billion to colonize Mars, OpenAI president testifies at trial
OpenAI’s president said Elon Musk told him he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI and that he intended to ⁠use that stake to build a ​self-sustaining city on Mars.
Crypto platforms are offering trades tied to the most valuable private artificial intelligence companies on earth — such as Anthropic — that ordinary investors have almost no other way to access.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 5, 2026
AI’s hottest private companies have booming crypto shadow market
Once the domain of digital token speculation, crypto infrastructure is being redeployed to give traders a way to bet on the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX.
Formula One teams are relying on artificial intelligence more and more as the sport's ties to AI companies become stronger.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 5, 2026
AI becoming part of the race for Formula One and its teams
AI can be enable teams to navigate new regulations and spending cap rules, now set at $215 million.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Long-stalled maglev line finally gets green light from Shizuoka Prefecture
Environmental concerns relating to the construction of Central Japan Railway’s high-speed maglev line had contributed to years of delays for the project.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.

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