When Japanese IT company NEC recently conducted a staff grievance survey, it received unusual complaints such as βThere is no human supportβ and βJob details are rarely specified.β These complaints came not from human workers, but from AI employees.
According to Daily Shincho, NEC operates a department staffed entirely by AI, ranging from managers to entry-level workers. Launched in August, the Corporate AI Workforce division features AI software performing tasks like writing financial reports, summarizing news, and preparing for meetings.
The organization consists of four tiers: AI department head, board of directors, managers, and operational staff. The department head is named βZentai Osamu,β combining Chinese characters meaning βentiretyβ and βcommand.β The managers below distribute tasks and evaluate quality and cost, while the board provides strategic insights.
AI employees also undergo onboarding, receiving company philosophies and behavioral norms. They participate in one-on-one reviews with AI managers to discuss performance and improvement measures. Stress checks are conducted to evaluate resource availability, with AI staff occasionally noting a lack of human decision-making or management.
Despite handling tasks in one-seventh the time of traditional methods, running AI employees involves significant processing costs, prompting NEC to target a tenfold reduction in usage fees. Other Japanese firms like DeNA are also successfully adopting AI staff for system maintenance and quality control.
