Panasonic Resurrects Founder Konosuke Matsushita as AI Avatar for Management Wisdom

The AI Version of Panasonic's Founder Revives His Management Expertise for a New Audience

The digital resurrection was achieved by training an AI model with reams of Matsushita's writings from his more than 40 books, and quotations from over 3,000 recordings featuring the legendary businessman that were collected and digitized by Panasonic's Peace and Happiness through Prosperity Institute -- a "think tank and educational org founded by Matsushita," according to tech news site The Register. The AI model was then converted into a chatbot to "enlighten" people with Matsushita's personal philosophy and "pass it on to the next generation," according to a Panasonic press release about its new "digital human." A demo question proposed to the Matsushita AI twin that asked if living a good life meant living a long life, yielded the following answer, according to Panasonic: "The secret to a good life is to remember the spirit of youth, to be lively and full of hope." That would look great on a T-shirt, or an inspirational piece of decorative cross-stitch work, but it's not exactly management material. The thing is that the AI model Panasonic is using, which Bloomberg reports was created with the University of Tokyo-affiliated Matsuo Institute, is supposedly able to "reproduce how a person thinks or talks," and will be developed further to "help make business decisions in the future," so it should be able to deliver much more management-tailored data too, according to Bloomberg. Digital cloning like this makes good use of the "generative" facet of AI applications still sweeping the tech world. Essentially these models are trained with the writings or transcripts of speeches made by one person, and then, when asked a question about a fact or subject that the original person wasn't asked, the model uses its training information to "dream up" a relevant response -- in exactly the same way that, say, chatGPT can think of an ad slogan for your company, just flavored with the thinking of a particular person.

'God of management' comes back to life as an AI model

Panasonic Holdings has created an artificial intelligence clone of its late founder Konosuke Matsushita based on his writings, speeches, and over 3,000 voice recordings, the company announced Wednesday. Known as Japan's "god of management," the Panasonic icon is one of the most respected by the Japanese business community, and comes back to life in digital form to impart wisdom directly to those he never met in person. "As the number of people who received training directly from Matsushita has been on the decline, we decided to use generative AI technology to pass down our group's founding vision to the next generation," the company said in a statement. Co-developed with the University of Tokyo-affiliated Matsuo Institute, the model can reproduce how a person thinks or talks. The company aims to further develop the digital clone to help make business decisions in the future. Matsushita, who died in 1989, pushed the company to become a leader in consumer electronics, and is often picked as one of the most respected Japanese business leaders of all time. His book "The Path" is regularly seen as a must-read for businesspeople in the country.

Panasonic brings its founder back to life as an AI

Digital clone of Kōnosuke Matsushita to dispense management advice to new generation Japanese multinational electronics mainstay Panasonic - founded in 1918 as Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works -has created an AI version of its long deceased founder, Kōnosuke Matsushita. Matsushita died in 1989, and Panasonic explained that the number of people he personally trained is falling, making the AI necessary. "We believe it is important for our employees to correctly understand the management philosophy of our founder, Kōnosuke Matsushita, on which our Basic Management Policy is based, and to pass it on through the ages," declared the manufacturing giant. The AI was trained on 3000 recordings featuring Matsushita, plus his writings, lectures, and interviews that were digitized by Panasonic's Peace and Happiness through Prosperity (PHP) Institute - a think tank and educational org founded Matsushita. Panasonic collaborated with the University of Tokyo-affiliated Matsuo Institute to develop an AI character which imitates Matsushita's thinking and speaking style. It hopes to do the same for Matsushita's direct contacts and researchers as well - so that it can help users solve management decisions based on what the founder may have thought or felt about a situation. "The development of generative AI technology provides a new approach to the verification of traditional research questions, and we hope that it will enable us to take on previously impossible interdisciplinary research using innovative methods," explained Panasonic. Matsushita achieved iconic status in Japan. He's often referred to as the "god of management" and is revered for his leadership philosophy and role in transforming the business he founded - which started out selling lamps - into a global powerhouse. He authored over 40 books, some which remain popular despite their age. One of his works, 1968's The Path is on many Japanese professional must-read lists and focuses on individual success and self improvement, while Not for Bread Alone focuses on the societal role of business. Reviving its founder won't mean Panasonic is seen creepy in Japan, where reverence for forebears remains the norm. The project also boosts Panasonic's AI experience and credentials. The company has recently focused on EV batteries, hydrogen energy, workplace digitalization and supply chain software. Like most tech businesses it's invested in AI related projects. This summer it released a generative AI model called ContextFlow++ that it thinks shows promise in roles including image classification, predictive maintenance and unsupervised anomaly detection. ®

Japan's 'God of Management' Comes Back to Life as AI Model

Panasonic Holdings Corp. created an artificial intelligence clone of its late founder Konosuke Matsushita based on his writings, speeches, and over 3,000 voice recordings, the company announced Wednesday. Known as Japan's "god of management," the Panasonic icon is one of the most respected by the Japanese business community, and comes back to life in digital form to impart wisdom directly to those he never met in person.

Konosuke Matsushita, Japan's 'god of management,' has come back as an AI avatar

Japanese firm Panasonic has brought back the "God of Management" in AI avatar form, ready to answer all your business questions. Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, remains one of Japan's most revered entrepreneurs even 35 years after his death aged 94 in 1989. Panasonic's website even has a list of quotations from Matsushita with words of wisdom on everything from "Do it now" to "Biding your time". Panasonic said it created the AI avatar "based on the vast amount of recorded speech and audio data from Matsushita's writings, speeches and dialogues". The purpose is to "explore and enlighten his philosophy and pass it on to the next generation", the electronics company said in a press release on Wednesday. Responding to a demo question on whether living a good life meant living long, AI Matsushita said: "The secret to a good life is to remember the spirit of youth, to be lively and full of hope." Matsushita, then 24, founded the firm that would become Panasonic in his two-storey house in Osaka in 1918, producing innovative connectors and two-way sockets. Pioneering electronic appliances from rice cookers to batteries to video recorders, Panasonic became a global titan with Matsushita making the cover of Time magazine in 1962. In 2022, Japanese researchers launched an AI Buddha, programmed with around 1,000 teachings from Buddhist texts to answer all manner of deep and meaningful queries. A Swiss church installed this year a similar AI version of Jesus capable of answering questions from the curious in 100 languages, according to media reports.

Panasonic resurrects its founder as an AI trained on thousands of recordings

Panasonic was originally founded in 1918 by Kōnosuke Matsushita under the name Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works, and now the founder has been resurrected by the modern-day Panasonic. Panasonic collaborated with the University of Tokyo to resurrect Matsushita who died in 1989. Engineers fed 3,000 recordings of Matsushita into an AI, along with any relevant writings, lectures, and interviews. Panasonic's Peace and Happiness through Prosperity (PHP) Institute, a think tank originally founded by Matsushita, plugged all of the relevant data into an AI and trained it to character an AI character that is designed to replicate Matsushita's way of thinking and speaking style. What's the goal of this? Panasonic wants to use the AI replica of the company's founder as a consultant, querying it in difficult situations to see what Matsushita would do based on the current circumstances. Notably, Matsushita was renowned for his incredible management philosophies in business, and is incredibly celebrated in Japan for the transformation of what was once a business that sold lamps into what Panasonic is today.

Panasonic resurrects long-dead founder as an AI to share his management wisdom

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. WTF?! Bringing back dead actors so they can appear in modern media has long been a contentious area, but what about resurrecting a long-deceased CEO as an AI clone so he can pass on his wisdom to current employees? Panasonic thinks it's okay, having just created an AI version of founder Kōnosuke Matsushita, who died in 1989. Panasonic states that the number of people who interacted directly with the man known as Japan's "God of management" is declining every year. The company adds that it is important for its employees to understand Matsushita's management philosophy, on which its current Basic Management Policy is based, and pass it on "through the ages." The University of Tokyo-affiliated Matsuo Institute codeveloped the AI. It's trained on Matsushita's writings, lectures, speeches, and interviews digitized by Panasonic's Peace and Happiness through Prosperity Institute, a thinktank Matsushita founded that aims to bring peace and fulfillment to human society by assuring both spiritual and material abundance, apparently. The AI, which was also trained using over 3,000 of Matsushita's voice recordings, imitates the way Panasonic's founder thinks, acts, and talks, allowing it to deliver Matsushita's ideas and thoughts directly to those he never met during his lifetime. Panasonic wants to take the program a step further by further developing the clone so it can help users make management decisions based on what the real Matsushita would have done. The whole thing does sound pretty concerning, especially the plan for the AI to eventually help with business decisions. Could this be the first step toward a future where corporations are led by AI versions of long-dead CEOs, making the same decisions their human counterparts would have made? "The development of generative AI technology provides a new approach to the verification of traditional research questions, and we hope that it will enable us to take on previously impossible interdisciplinary research using innovative methods," explained Panasonic. Matsushita is hugely respected in Japan, revered as one of the country's greatest business leaders of all time. He wrote over 40 books, including The Path, which is still considered a must-read for those in the business world. In related AI-zombie news, a company is going to trial with Disney over the CGI recreation of actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, in Rogue One.

Japanese 'god of management' back as AI avatar

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese firm Panasonic has brought back the "God of Management" in AI avatar form, ready to answer all your business questions. Konosuke Matsushita (pic left), the founder of Panasonic, remains one of Japan's most revered entrepreneurs even 35 years after his death aged 94 in 1989. Panasonic's website even has a list of quotations from Matsushita with words of wisdom on everything from "Do it now" to "Biding your time". Panasonic said it created the AI avatar "based on the vast amount of recorded speech and audio data from Matsushita's writings, speeches and dialogues". The purpose is to "explore and enlighten his philosophy and pass it on to the next generation", the electronics company said in a press release on Wednesday. Responding to a demo question on whether living a good life meant living long, AI Matsushita said: "The secret to a good life is to remember the spirit of youth, to be lively and full of hope." Matsushita, then 24, founded the firm that would become Panasonic in his two-storey house in Osaka in 1918, producing innovative connectors and two-way sockets. Pioneering electronic appliances from rice cookers to batteries to video recorders, Panasonic became a global titan with Matsushita making the cover of Time magazine in 1962. In 2022, Japanese researchers launched an AI Buddha, programmed with around 1,000 teachings from Buddhist texts to answer all manner of deep and meaningful queries. A Swiss church installed this year a similar AI version of Jesus capable of answering questions from the curious in 100 languages, according to media reports.