Kazuhiro Shimura, Creative Director at Dentsu Inc., took the stage at the world's largest tuna conference, "TUNA 2022."

The world's largest tuna conference, "TUNA 2022," was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from October 11 to 13. Kazuhiro Shimura, Creative Director at Dentsu Inc.'s Future Creative Center, took the stage as a speaker and gave a presentation on his project "TUNA SCOPE."

TUNA 2022 is an international conference hosted by the international governmental organization Infofish, bringing together fisheries ministers from around the world, representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and fisheries stakeholders globally. This year's theme was 'Strengthening Resilience, Adaptability and Sustainable Growth in the Global Tuna Industry'. It drew participants from 70 countries and featured 49 speakers.


TUNA SCOPE, the technology presented by Mr. Shimura, is the world's first tuna quality assessment technology developed by AI learning the tacit knowledge of Japan's skilled tuna connoisseurs. Announced in 2019, its adoption has expanded beyond its initial implementation at Kura Sushi in Japan to include China and other countries, and it has won numerous advertising and design awards worldwide.

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"I am deeply honored to have this opportunity. While the fisheries industry is entirely different from ours, the need for creativity to drive innovation remains unchanged. In fact, I believe it's crucial for outsiders like us to provide fresh perspectives and stimulate new ideas from the outside. The more challenging the problem, the more innovative the solution needs to be. I want agency creatives to continue playing that role," said Mr. Shimura.

The presentation also covered the background of the initiative and called for cooperation partners to support the global expansion of Tuna Scope starting next year, sparking lively discussions on-site.


This initiative addresses the challenge of increasing commoditization in the global tuna industry by adding value through "quality" made visible via AI-based quality assessment. The fact that AI was used not for efficiency or cost reduction, but for high value-added purposes, drew surprise as a highly novel case.

Furthermore, in countries where the absence of skilled "quality assessors" leads to unfair transactions, establishing a common standard for "quality" through AI is expected to contribute to fairer trade. It also suggests the potential to shift the global tuna business from a focus on "quantity" to "quality," promoting a transition to more sustainable fishing methods and thereby contributing to addressing resource issues.

TUNA SCOPE, born from the challenge of passing on Japanese artisans' expertise to AI, is now attracting global attention as a solution to various social challenges facing the tuna fishing industry.