・Lecturer：Keiko Nishimura Assistant Professor(Tenure-Track)
・Lecturer Info: https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100004101_ja.html
・Title: Paradox of Tezuka’s AI and “Tezuka AI:”
Contextualizing Popular Cultural Representation of AI in the Social History of AI Research
・Day and Time: May 15, 2025 5:30pm-
・Abstract:
This presentation is part of my ongoing research examining the relationship between popular cultural representations and the academic/industrial development of robot/ics and artificial intelligence (AI) in Japan. It is well known that Tezuka Osamu’s robot-themed works influenced industrial and academic interest in robotics; however, relatively less attention has been paid to Tezuka’s AI representations. Unlike the figure of the robot, which is depicted positively and human-like, Tezuka portrays AI negatively, emphasizing its destructive power. Despite this, the so-called “Tezuka AI” has created “a new work of Tezuka” long after his death. How did this come to be? After briefly introducing a framework of cultural studies of technology, I will first explore why Tezuka perceived such a difference between robots and AI, and then contextualize “Tezuka AI” within the social history of AI research. While the technological breakthroughs made after Tezuka’s death have successfully distanced the contemporary imagination of AI from how Tezuka himself conceptualized it, “Tezuka AI” has generated a new set of legal and ethical questions.
