Report on the Kickoff Meeting for the Student Communities Project

On October 2, the kickoff meeting for the Student Communities project, part of the GPAI associated projects, was held online with participation from faculty members and students of affiliated universities.

The Student Communities project is a 2025 initiative launched under the GPAI 2.0 framework. It builds upon the project initiated in 2021 by the Japanese team of GPAI 1.0’s Future of Work working group, the Observation Platform of AI in the Workplace project. In that project, students visited companies and organizations that have implemented AI technologies to investigate and document the impact of AI on workers and workplace environments, with the findings compiled each year into reports and also shared through webinars.

Starting in 2025, under the GPAI 2.0 framework, 3 centers - Paris, Tokyo, and Montreal - are collaborating on a new initiative, called the Student Communities project. Each center will carry out its own activities, and it is also planned to provide an opportunity for students from the participating countries of the 3 centers to come together and present the results of their activities. The Tokyo Center has decided to support the further development of the Observation Platform of AI in the Workplace project.

During the kickoff meeting, Dr. HARAYAMA Yuko, Secretary General of the GPAI Tokyo Expert Support Center, provided an overview of GPAI and explained how the Student Communities project fits within its overall structure. This was followed by introductions and activity updates from faculty members of each university. The meeting concluded with a review and discussion of the upcoming schedule and shared research protocols.

Going forward, the students will continue visiting companies and organizations as part of their research activities, in preparation for the final presentation scheduled for March next year.