What’s New
- 2025/5/12 Site URL changed. Simulation page re-release
- 2024/11/8 Simulation page changed during maintenance to update data
- 2023/12/25 Site open
About This Website
The aim of this website is to visually present the results of analyses and simulations from the collaborative research project between the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Economic and Social Research Council Research Grant (ESRC), of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) public funding body. The project, titled “The Future of Unpaid Work: AI’s Potential to Transform Domestic Work in the UK and Japan” (Principal Investigator, Japan: Dr. Nobuko Nagase, Professor at Faculty of Core Research Human Sciences Division, Ochanomizu University; Principal Investigator, UK: Dr. Ekaterina Hertog, Associate Professor of AI and Society, Oxford Internet Institute and Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford), was conducted from December of 2019 to December of 2023.
The graphs on each data visualization page can be interactively modified to display content based on user interests. For more information on the research overview of the above-mentioned project, please refer to the “Research Overview” section below. It is important to note that the analyses and simulations displayed on this site are based on the outcomes of Work Package 4, “Simulation of Future Society using the Framework of NTA/NTTA” (Principal Investigators: Rikiya Matsukura, Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Nihon University, and Dr. Setsuya Fukuda, Senior Researcher of the Department of the Research Planning and Coordination, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research), within the mentioned collaborative research project.
The program codes for all the analyses and simulations presented on this website are created by Dr. Setsuya Fukuda.
Research Overview
This project will introduce unpaid domestic work into the discussion of AI’s potential to influence the future of labor. Working-age adults in Japan spend approximately 38 percent of all paid and unpaid work time on household and care work; the figure for the UK is 56 percent. Yet, the future of unpaid household and care work has received little research attention.
The goal of this research project is to (1) scope the potential of new (AI-powered) digital technologies to free up time now locked into unpaid housework and care work, and (2) consider how the resulting changes may affect gender division of labor within households and women’s ability to participate in the labour market.
We build on existing predictions of the likelihood of paid work automation, but will go beyond purely technological criteria and also analyse relevant economic factors, such as affordability of technology and social factors, such as acceptability of machines performing different tasks in the domestic context.
Based on these dimensions we will build realistic simulations of the future of unpaid work and use them to evaluate the social consequences of automation in Japan and the UK.
Dr. Nobuko Nagase of Ochanomizu University is PI of Japanese side. Dr. Ekaterina Hertog of Oxford University Internet Institute is PI of UK side. By applying to UKRI for UK team and JST-RISTEX for Japanese team, the two groups in UK and in Japan simultaneously got competitive fund from the government that runs from December 2019 to December 2023.
https://www.jst.go.jp/ristex/hite/community/project000420.html
P.I., Dr. Nobuko Nagase, Professor, Faculty of Core Research Human Sciences Division, Ochanomizu University
https://domesticai.oii.ox.ac.uk/
P.I., Dr. Ekaterina Hertog, Associate Professor of AI and Society, Oxford Internet Institute and Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford
Research Findings
Articles and Contributions：https://www-p.hles.ocha.ac.jp/domesticai-project/paper-presentation.html
Conference Presentations and Lectures：https://www-p.hles.ocha.ac.jp/domesticai-project/conference-presentation-lecture.html
Seminar：https://www-p.hles.ocha.ac.jp/domesticai-project/seminar.html
Member
Japan side member
| Nobuko Nagase(PI) | Professor, Ochanomizu University |
| Yuji Ohta | Professor, Ochanomizu University |
| Yoshiaki Omori | Professor, Yokohama National University |
| Emiko Usui | Professor, Hitotsubashi University |
| Rikiya Matsukura | Professor, Nihon University |
| Setsuya Fukuda | Senior Researcher, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research |
| Rieko Nagamachi | Associate Professor, Ottemon Gakuin University |
| Junko Okuda | Assistant Professor, Hokuriku University |
| Marie Hirakawa | Assistant Professor, Nihon University |
| Jian Tianyou | Research Assistant、Ochanomizu University |
| Jin Xuan | Research Assistant、Ochanomizu University |
Advisor
| Mitsuyo Onuma | Flap Inc. |
British side member
| Ekaterina Hertog(P.I.) | Associate Professor of AI and Society, Oxford Internet Institute and Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford |
| Vili Lehdonvirta | Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford |
| Lulu Shi | Departmental Lecturer, Department of Education and Research Associate, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford |
Related Links
Contact Us
Please contact us at the e-mail address below.
Nihon University Population Research Institute
Email：adm-ken.eco@nihon-u.ac.jp