Message from the Director

The information technology and globalization accelerated to transform the society. In particular, information is being shared as it runs in a blink around the world via networks. The big data of information creates immense value, but at the same time, it also creates new concerns and problems. For example, who should be in responsible if a self-driving car, whose performance is being further improved by storing driving data in a huge data center and having it learned by AI in a cloud computer, behaves in a way that no one could have foreseen and causes an accident? Nowadays, there are even fears that the rapid evolution of AI technology will not be able to catch up with the wisdom of humans. So that a dystopia, the opposite of the ideal society that was planned, will become a reality.

Current societal norms of religion, ethics, and law do not always adequately address these concerns and issues. There are many examples of inappropriate behavior in the use of personal information, facial recognition, pedestrian identification, or information-sharing software in cyberspace that are not yet controlled by appropriate rules. Under such circumstances, it is an extremely
important and urgent task to gather wisdom, envision new norms, and propose new rules while keeping an eye on the development potential of advanced science and technology, such as information science and technology and life science and technology.

The ELSI Center at Chuo University will consider range of issues that need to be resolved. We will pursue new ethics, norms and the future of society in order to create an inclusive social development that co-evolves with scientific and technological innovation. Furthermore, we intend to contribute to solving a variety of social issues through a research platform of industry-government-academia collaboration.

Osamu Sudo
Professor, Faculty of Global Informatics