Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio says he plans to launch a national institute in January to study ways to ensure that generative AI technologies are safe to use and help promote benefits for society.

Kishida discussed the plan to create what he called an AI safety institute during a meeting of a government panel on Japan's AI strategy on Thursday.

He pointed out that Britain and the United States have set up institutes to conduct research on generative AI amid the increasing concern about safety issues.

The prime minister said that Japan needs to set up a similar institute with the aim of studying methods to assess the safety of AI technologies and working out standards.

The meeting also adopted the final draft of a set of government guidelines intended for all businesses that develop or use AI technologies.

The draft document states that "human-centric" is one of the basic principles governing the use of AI.

The guidelines would call for adherence to all rules and regulations concerning AI. They warn against the development, provision, and use of AI technologies with the aim of unlawfully manipulating the human decision-making process or emotions.

The guidelines would also oblige businesses that develop or use AI to take steps to prevent the technology from being abused to create misinformation.

The government plans to ask for public comments before it works out a final version of the guidelines by March next year.