As Japanese companies increasingly adopt generative AI, their long-established culture of reading between the lines is causing assumptions to diverge. The process of encouraging people to articulate instructions for AI is exposing the fact that teams had not shared a common understanding, giving rise to cases in which teams lose cohesion.
As generative AI becomes more widespread, the assumption that people working for the same company share the same values becomes increasingly vulnerable. Situations are becoming more common in which the “common sense” shaped by differences in generation and experience is challenged by the introduction of AI. The assumptions that Japan’s corporate culture of reading between the lines has overlooked are being brought to light.
The process of articulating work processes for AI and turning them into prompts can expose assumptions that had not been shared. In particular, cases arise in which veterans and younger employees do not agree on how procedures should be carried out.
The article points out that these problems become more apparent as AI use advances, but this does not represent a crisis so much as the surfacing of issues that had been left unaddressed for many years.