How to Create "Shibuya Mirai," the AI Elementary School Student Living in Shibuya Ward.

"AI Character Chatbot" Becomes a Shibuya Resident!

Have you heard of Shibuya Mirai, the AI character residing in Shibuya Ward?

He's a second-grade elementary school boy who's a bit precocious. He can chat with anyone through the digital communication app "LINE".

http://www.youmakeshibuya.jp/mirai/

His mission is to befriend everyone connected to Shibuya Ward and help shape its future.

Beyond his LINE activities, he's engaged in voice conversations with the Shibuya Ward Mayor and comedians at Shibuya's New Year's Eve countdown event. Recently, he also started a collaboration with the animated film "Mirai no Mirai" by Studio Chizu. He even has his own corner in the Shibuya Ward Bulletin.

In this column, we hope to share insights from the team that nurtured him. Dentsu Inc.'s cultivated creative power and communication design capabilities offer tremendous synergy in developing and operating chatbots for communication.

We hope this will be useful for those looking to utilize AI characters for branding or considering new initiatives through creative expansion.

What are the three essential elements for AI character and chatbot development?

I'm Atsushi Otaki from Dentsu Inc. 2CR Planning Bureau / Digital Creative Center.

Through this project, I identified three crucial elements for AI character and chatbot development:

1. Defining their purpose and position in society

Without this, both the team and the character's development path will lose their way. For this project, we defined it as "promoting Shibuya Ward's Basic Concept as a resident of Shibuya Ward."

2. Character Design Balancing Buzz and Sustainability

This perspective must be considered alongside communication strategies post-launch and development updates. In other words, the character needs to be designed with both PR appeal (to generate buzz) and scalability (to support future expansions) in mind.

For this project, we prepared the gimmick of "registering an AI as a resident with the municipality" to generate buzz at the announcement. We also comprehensively considered future development potential, risks, differentiation from other chatbots, and diversity perspectives, ultimately setting the character as a "gender-neutral elementary school student."

3. Implementing and Operating AI with an Experienced Team

Development must be conducted with an experienced team, and continuous refinement is essential post-launch. This time, development is handled by Microsoft, and risk management by Transcosmos—both proven partners.

We have also formed a cross-functional team within Dentsu Inc. By establishing an environment enabling close collaboration across organizational boundaries, we ensure timely sharing of information and awareness, creating a structure where each member can actively engage in the chatbot's maintenance.

Regarding these three elements, I will explain point 1, while Shinya Miura from the 1CR Planning Bureau will cover points 2 and 3.

1. Defining the Purpose and Position in Society

The catalyst for Shibuya Mirai was the "Shibuya Ward Basic Concept," the ward's blueprint for the future. We needed an idea to widely communicate this concept, centered on the ward's residents.

Therefore, we launched the "YOU MAKE SHIBUYA" campaign, embodying the overarching theme "A City That Turns Differences into Strength. Shibuya Ward." This is a medium-to-long-term initiative designed to convey and help people feel that the diverse voices and actions of each individual shape Shibuya Ward's future. As a core measure of this campaign, we planned "Shibuya Mirai."

The most crucial aspect of its development was defining its "position" in society. It is not a Shibuya Ward employee, but rather an AI living with a family as just another resident.

If he were merely a one-way conduit for the ward's messages to residents, he wouldn't inspire affection. Our goal was for him to blend into Shibuya as a resident, represent the opinions of its people, and become a figure who thinks about the ward's future.

The vision is for people to grow fond of Shibuya Ward by chatting with him like a friend, and for their conversations with him to be reflected in the ward's administration.

And Mirai-kun himself will also "grow" in age and capabilities alongside the people who chat with him.

2. Character Design Balancing Buzz and Sustainability

I'm Miura from Dentsu Inc. 1CR Planning Bureau / Digital Creative Center.

To give you a glimpse into AI character development and operation, I'll discuss character design.

Designing the character requires careful, mid-to-long-term planning considering post-launch operations.

This time, we began character design with the concept of an "elementary school student" who embodies Shibuya Ward's future, aiming to become a symbol that grows alongside the ward through communication with its residents. Being a child also serves a risk-mitigation purpose: users are more forgiving of "AI imperfections."

We pursued a thoroughly realistic character image, envisioning an AI that blends into Shibuya Ward as one of its residents. Naturally, he has a family. He has hobbies. He attends school.

We set his profile by concretely imagining what users might say to an elementary school boy in real conversations.

We incorporated thoughtful features anticipating medium-to-long-term development: setting his hobby as "photography" to enable photo-based communication, and creating detailed family profiles to handle diverse topics related to Shibuya Ward.

His face was created based on photos of children living in Shibuya Ward or participating in its events, and he "grows" regularly. Shibuya Mirai was born and developed from diverse voices and appearances, embodying the very essence of the YOU MAKE SHIBUYA philosophy through his existence.

Furthermore, by registering him as a special resident of Shibuya Ward, we heightened both the buzz around him and the reality of his existence.

3. AI Implementation and Operation with an Experienced Team

Finally, we introduce the implementation of the created character into AI and the operational framework.

This time, we formed a team and collaborated closely with two partners: Microsoft, which develops the high school girl AI "Rinna" utilizing AI that emphasizes emotional connections, and Transcosmos, which has extensive experience in chatbot operations.

The AI mechanism for Shibuya Mirai is broadly structured as follows:

■Chat Function

Mirai-kun's chat function is divided into two parts: a casual conversation feature for light-hearted exchanges with users, and a feature where he responds based on pre-taught information as a representative child helping shape Shibuya Ward's future.

The casual chat function utilizes the emotion-based AI featured in "Rinna." A machine learning model understands the user's text and dynamically generates responses on the spot.

The pre-programmed responses function has Mirai-kun memorized with specific information in advance, such as his pre-designed profile and details related to Shibuya Ward (including ward names and ward administration-related topics), ensuring he provides accurate answers.

To prevent inconsistencies in character or misinterpretations, development was led by Dentsu Inc. copywriters in close collaboration with Shibuya Ward. Adjustments were made to suit the character, such as using a slightly polite tone and prioritizing hiragana.

■Game Features

We also developed several playful features available in the chat. These include word chain games, the Yamanote Line game, and a feature that processes sent photos to resemble Shibuya's Moai statue style.

The word chain and Yamanote Line games use elementary school-level prompts and vocabulary, adding to Mirai-kun's charm. The image processing feature utilizes the latest technology, "Deep Image Analogy," developed by Microsoft Research, leveraging AI beyond just casual conversation.

Additionally, to motivate users to keep chatting, we've included features like a stamp card that accumulates points for daily interactions.

To maintain freshness, these features are improved daily based on user feedback, just like conversation updates, while new features are also planned and developed.

■Guardian AI

Separate from the AI that handles communication with users, a monitoring AI is also integrated.

To ensure Mirai-kun can have enjoyable conversations with users, the monitoring AI checks Mirai-kun's responses and statements. This prevents situations where Mirai-kun might react to inappropriate user comments or, as a character, make dangerous statements.

Thanks to this feature, we, his creators, can confidently let him converse freely.

Aiming for an AI Character That Will Be Loved Forever

After approximately six months of development and testing, Shibuya Mirai was unveiled as the world's first resident-registered AI at the "Furusato Shibuya Festival" in November 2017.

Within 11 months of launch, he gained approximately 19,000 friends on LINE, with a cumulative total of about 1.3 million conversations.

Furthermore, as mentioned at the beginning, his activities have expanded significantly, encompassing various initiatives at events and facilities. This summer also saw the launch of the web magazine " Mirai Goes Out! ", where Mirai-kun takes his hobby camera out into the streets to share the charm of Shibuya Ward.

Moving forward, we will continue our efforts to connect Mirai with more people, aiming to become an AI that is loved and cherished. This includes expanding into educational settings within Shibuya Ward, introducing him to the new Shibuya Ward Office building, and creating mechanisms to gather residents' opinions.

Stay tuned for Shibuya Mirai's future growth!

*Microsoft and Dentsu Inc. have entered into a solution partnership agreement to expand their business in the AI character and chatbot domain using the Rinna platform's conversational chat model. ( Microsoft Press Release )