While the use of AI is attracting attention, in recent years there is an increasing need for a wide range of human resources within companies to know the knowledge and possibilities of AI and to use it correctly in their work. In the past, knowledge of AI was sought mainly by AI engineers, but now that we are in the era of AI utilization, educating AI knowledge widely to the business side will directly lead to the promotion of AI utilization within companies. increase.
In Japan, many companies have begun full-fledged in-house AI education, and the use of AI has begun to emerge from the bottom up. In such a trend, Z Holdings, which represents the domestic IT field, launched the committee “Z AI Academia” in “Z Academia”, which is responsible for education of the entire group, from July 2021.
Table of contents
- Deep in reason, broad in sentence | What is Z AI Academia?
- The core technology of DX is AI | Recent DX trends
- Future prospects
- in conclusion
Deep in reason, broad in sentence | What is Z AI Academia?
ーーPlease explain about Z AI Academia again.
Mr. Noguchi
One is the provision of open AI learning courses for all Z Holdings employees .
The second is a closed community where group companies such as Yahoo, LINE, ASKUL, Ikyu, and ZOZO share knowledge related to promoting AI at each company .
ーーHow was the company established?
Mr. Taniguchi
For example, we have prepared content that allows you to learn while learning about each other’s businesses, such as learning about logistics from an executive officer at ASKUL, or learning about search from a person in charge at Yahoo.
Also, in order to expand the range of genres, we created a “certified instructor system” within Z Holdings, creating a culture where employees learn from each other. Among them, I felt the need to put my heart into AI in order to become an AI tech company, which led to the establishment of Z AI Academia.
ーーI would like to ask you about the specific curriculum.
Mr. Noguchi
In addition, the important part is to cultivate the mind, technique, and body knowledge related to AI .
Rather than being satisfied with just learning the basics of AI, the “physical” part, we are also preparing to refine more practical skills and develop the “skills” part that can be used to plan, judge, and promote AI. We also hope to increase the number of human resources who learn and utilize AI on their own by nurturing the “mind” of mindsets such as leadership and making AI their own.
ーーWhat kind of mechanism will the second closed community adopt?
Mr. Noguchi
Also, I hope that it will become the foundation and core part of AI utilization for Z Holdings as a whole.
ーーIs it possible to participate during business hours?
Mr. Taniguchi
ーーI heard that there is an indicator of both humanities and sciences, but what is the aim?
Mr. Noguchi
“Deeply understand” aims at deep communication between experts by sharing what data scientists are leading the way in a closed committee.
Ultimately, we want everyone to use Z AI Academia, so we want to deliver AI education to as many business people as possible. about it.
The core technology of DX is AI | Recent DX trends
ーーIn recent years, the word DX has been used a lot, but how does Z AI Academia perceive the relationship between DX and AI?
Mr. Noguchi
DX has a broad and narrow definition, but in the Z Holdings Group, innovations such as LINE’s super-large language model are taking place, and in that sense, I feel that AI is becoming more popular.
There is a demand for how to use AI, which is the favorite, and we would like to advance AI education in anticipation of the future.
Future prospects
ーLastly, please tell us about your future prospects.
Mr. Noguchi
At the same time, we would like to nurture the network within the group over the long term, revitalize communication within the group, such as ” Ask that person in that department to solve.
ーーWhat do you think, Mr. Taniguchi?
Mr. Taniguchi
As a group aiming to become an AI tech company, we would like to use AI as a common language . I hope that the word AI will lead us in various directions, such as creating conversations and solving problems with AI, so I hope Z AI Academia will be a catalyst for that.
in conclusion
AI education has been receiving a lot of attention in recent years, but there is no other group that is doing it on such a large scale.
In addition, it was innovative in that AI education, which tends to be biased toward science-oriented human resources, was jointly conducted with humanities, and it was a program that seemed to have an impact on AI education itself in Japan.
