Every AI Policy Ever · open in the interactive register
Published (non-binding, current)Non-binding · Guidelines / framework
AI Guidelines for Business
AI事業者ガイドライン
Record JP-02
- Issued by
- Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
- Jurisdiction
- Japan
- Level · region
- National · East Asia
- Published / adopted
- 2024-04-19
- Last updated
- 2026-03-31
- Language
- Japanese
Summary
Voluntary AI governance guidelines of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for all who develop, provide or use AI in business, including public bodies, issued as non-binding soft law. They set basic philosophies, principles and ten common guiding principles (human-centricity, safety, fairness, privacy, security, transparency, accountability, education and literacy, fair competition, innovation), apply the Hiroshima Process guiding principles to all AI actors, call for a risk-based approach and agile AI governance across the life cycle, and give separate guidance for AI developers, providers and business users.
Language
English translation by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (provisional translation) Open it. The Japanese text is authoritative.
Safety topics
accountability & liabilitytransparency & labellinggeneral-purpose / frontier AIhuman oversight
Status notes
Version 1.0 was published on 19 April 2024, integrating and replacing MIC's draft AI R&D Guidelines and AI Utilization Guidelines and METI's Governance Guidelines for Implementation of AI Principles. Version 1.01 followed on 22 November 2024, version 1.1 on 28 March 2025 and version 1.2 on 31 March 2026; the ministries update it as a living document. Version 1.2 refers to the AI Promotion Act (Act No. 53 of 2025), fully in force since September 2025, and to the guideline adopted under its Article 13 on 19 December 2025, and defines AI agents and physical AI. Developers of advanced AI systems are asked to refer to the Hiroshima Process International Code of Conduct. The main text sets out the philosophy and guiding principles; a separate appendix gives practical measures, checklists and examples. MIC and METI publish English versions as provisional translations.
Local copy
Archived. The secondary source could not be downloaded (HTTP 403 Forbidden). Last attempt 2026-10-14 11:05:01 UTC
Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/JP-02/2026-10-14/official.html
Retrieved 2026-10-14 11:05:05 UTC
SHA-256 b6140d310144f7f59eb9f900fab0ae22ea7b5341a2af0ab9f636986245ed49a3
Linked document (PDF) (third-party copy, not published) archive/JP-02/2026-10-14/document-1.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-14 11:05:09 UTC
SHA-256 c8eba9b2fc4ff3e4872da734a316d98b1247bae36437d5b2cc35325b3a086f8b
Linked document (PDF) (third-party copy, not published) archive/JP-02/2026-10-14/document-2.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-14 11:05:14 UTC
SHA-256 25f079b3c3e1e395bb7385528e5520f4eb02e1d364fdf957ac6a6bc9d6de05b2
Verification
AThe instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-14 · official-url-fetched
Stored: MIC's page for the AI Guidelines for Business (list of all versions with their publication dates), the Japanese main text of version 1.0 (19 April 2024) and of version 1.2 (31 March 2026), and the ministries' English provisional translation of version 1.2 and of its appendix. They confirm the title, both issuing ministries, the dates of the four versions, the non-binding character and the content summarised. METI's page and PDF, the record's earlier official and secondary URLs, cannot be stored (HTTP 403, also in a browser); the official URL now points to MIC's page. The English texts are provisional translations that refer readers to the Japanese original.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-14: 9 field(s) supported.
History
- 2026-10-18related: [{"slug": "jp-ai-appropriateness-guideline", "id": "JP-05"}, {"slug": "jp-aisi", → [{"slug": "jp-ai-appropriateness-guideline", "id": "JP-05"}, {"slug": "jp-aisi", — two-way link added: JP-03 link(s) to JP-022026-10-18-fix-related-links · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14related: [{"slug": "jp-ai-appropriateness-guideline", "id": "JP-05"}, {"slug": "jp-aisi", → [{"slug": "jp-ai-appropriateness-guideline", "id": "JP-05"}, {"slug": "jp-aisi", — two-way link to JP-12, JP-13 added in run 2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-142026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14english_version: – → {"kind": "government translation", "url": "https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/ — The ministries' English text of version 1.2 is stored; it is labelled a provisional translation (仮訳) that refers readers to the original.2026-10-14-refresh-translation-fixes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14notes: Version 1.0 published 19 Apr 2024, replacing Japan's earlier separate AI R&D, AI → Version 1.0 was published on 19 April 2024, integrating and replacing MIC's draf — Version 1.2 of 31 March 2026 added; 'version 1.1 is the latest' and the unsupported English date of version 1.01 removed. The relation to the AI Promotion Act is now stated as the text puts it (page 3 and footnote 2) instead of 'serves as a ministry-level guideline'.2026-10-14-refresh-translation-fixes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14summary: Single set of voluntary AI governance guidelines for AI developers, providers an → Voluntary AI governance guidelines of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Commu — Rewritten from the Japanese text of version 1.2: scope (page 5), soft-law character (pages 3 and 4), the ten common guiding principles (pages 15 to 24), the Hiroshima Process guiding principles for all AI actors (page 27), the risk-based approach and agile governance (pages 4, 5 and 28) and the three actor parts (pages 30 to 42).2026-10-14-refresh-translation-fixes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14official_url: https://www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/mono_info_service/ai_shakai_jisso/20240419_repo → https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/kenkyu/ai_network/02ryutsu20_04000019.html — METI's page returns HTTP 403 to the archiver in every attempt; MIC, the co-issuer, lists every version with its date and links the Japanese and English texts, and its page is stored.2026-10-14-refresh-translation-fixes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14date_last_updated: 2025-03-28 → 2026-03-31 — 2025-03-28 to 2026-03-31: version 1.2 (cover of the Japanese text, MIC's version list, English cover).2026-10-14-refresh-translation-fixes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-14language: Japanese, English (tentative translation) → Japanese — The translation check found the official text in this language only; the English texts are translations (recorded in english_version where stored).manual-2026-10-14 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
Citation
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. AI Guidelines for Business. 2024-04-19. https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/kenkyu/ai_network/02ryutsu20_04000019.html. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-14 (level A). Local copy archive/JP-02/2026-10-14/official.html retrieved 2026-10-14 11:05:05 UTC, SHA-256 b6140d310144f7f59eb9f900fab0ae22ea7b5341a2af0ab9f636986245ed49a3. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record JP-02.
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