――Please tell us what LITALICO is aiming for as a company and what you are trying to do for that purpose.

Hasegawa:LITALICO's corporate philosophy is "to create a society without disabilities."Disability is not on the side of people but on the side of society, and by providing solutions and products to eliminate it, we aim to create a society where not only people with disabilities but all diverse people can live in their own way.
　For example, people with low eyesight have long had products that eliminate obstacles on the part of society, but with the invention and widespread use of eyeglasses, the difficulty of living for such people has been greatly eliminated.Similarly, we would like to realize a society in which solutions for people with various difficulties such as movement, learning, and employment are provided as a matter of course.

　Originally, our business was centered on the BtoC business, which provides learning support and employment support tailored to individual characteristics for children with disabilities.However, for the past five years or so, we have also been focusing on the BtoB business, which provides the know-how we have cultivated in our directly managed stores to other welfare facilities and schools in the industry.
　In the field of support and education for persons with disabilities, there are generally many relatively small businesses, and most of the cases are social welfare corporations and NPO corporations that operate a very small number of business establishments in close contact with the community.On the other hand, we are a large organization in the industry and currently have about 250 stores.The advantage of being large is that we can build a system that eliminates the difficulty of living for our customers by utilizing specialized teams such as teaching material creation, human resource development, marketing, and technologies such as FRONTEO's AI.We provide the essence of LITALICO accumulated through such a system to schools and welfare facilities, and currently have more than 1 contractors.

――Knowledge share to the industry leads to strengthening and improving competing services.I think it was a difficult management decision, but how did you make the decision?

Hasegawa:As you pointed out, we are providing our know-how to our competitors.However, LITALICO is not just becoming number one, but focusing on how to realize a "disability-free society" as soon as possible.Knowledge sharing was a natural selection from the perspective of developing businesses that could contribute to the transformation of the industry as a whole and society.

　There are many people waiting at LITALICO, and at LITALICO Junior, which provides child development support and after-school day service, there are about 1 people nationwide, and the longer ones are waiting for about five years.We are also trying to open stores, but there is still overwhelming demand that cannot keep up.Since our directly managed stores cannot meet the needs, we thought that we should work if there is room to contribute to the entire industry by utilizing the teaching materials and systems that we have developed.Given that it seems to us that we wouldn't do a business that would improve the industry for fear of negative impact on our own business, we had no choice but to do so.We strive to achieve the necessary performance so that it does not become a management decision failure.

Morimoto:FRONTEO's business also aims to "realize the fairness of the information society" and create a fair society, although the areas are different.The first business in the legal domain that we launched will help eliminate injustice.In US proceedings, evidence determines the outcome of the proceedings.For that purpose, we will thoroughly check the facts, but today, in the age of big data, it is very difficult to find the correct evidence from a huge amount of information, and advanced technology is required.The lack of such technology created the situation where the necessary evidence could not be provided, or the wrong evidence was given at a disadvantage.We started the company with the desire to prevent the wrong results due to differences in technical capabilities and know-how in trials that should be equal under the law.

　There are many other situations where similar inequality exists.One of these is the life science area, which we are currently working on. We are developing the "Conversational Dementia Diagnosis Support AI Program" that uses AI to determine the presence or absence of dementia, and are working toward approval as a medical device.With the advent of a super-aging society and dementia countermeasures becoming a socially important issue, the diagnosis of dementia requires specialized knowledge and experience, and the number of doctors who can do so is limited.Originally, medical care should be provided equally to all people, but the reality is that it is often not possible to make an appropriate diagnosis in areas where there are no specialists.We support this with AI and aim to create a society where everyone can receive appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

　I am convinced that these businesses will make a significant contribution to society, but on the other hand, there are many hurdles and time-consuming to understand and utilize them.In the process, especially when the business is not going well, I feel that it is a difficult task to get employees to overcome it and to maintain motivation and endure the difficult time until the idea is realized. How about at LITALICO?

Hasegawa:Everyone can lose confidence and motivation.But not everyone will come at the same time.For example, when I'm depressed, someone else is fine.Even if I'm worried that it's difficult to achieve, other employees will say, "I believe I can."Even if one business unit is having a difficult time, another business unit reports "I was able to do this!".I think that they are energized by the efforts and challenges of their colleagues, and they interact with each other to maintain a high level of passion.

Morimoto:That's wonderful.Has the entire workplace been devised to maintain that atmosphere?

Hasegawa:Originally, it would be great that people who sympathize with the philosophy are gathering.Also, as a whole, the mood I mentioned earlier, of course, there are various awareness of issues and a sense of crisis inside.On the other hand, I think you understand that we are a company that is making serious efforts toward the realization of our philosophy.What do customers and employees believe in?It's still a practice.Therefore, as a manager, it is important to set up a philosophy that I truly believe in, not to lie, and to have a consistent attitude of practicing sincerely.Through this accumulation, the circle of belief in LITALICO and the society that LITALICO is aiming for will expand.I am grateful to the employees who believe and follow me, and I try to continue to practice sincerely while correcting the trajectory.

Morimoto:As a manager, it is very important not to shake.No matter what I decide at the beginning or what I set as a goal, I will not be shaken.At the same time, managers and employees do not always see the future from the same perspective.What you see may differ depending on your position.Working on a task that takes a long time to achieve is like climbing an invisible mountain with a cloud hidden at the top.Some people are good at it, some are tolerant to do their best, but of course others are not.Therefore, I try to show that each effort has been realized and the results have been achieved at certain steps so that everyone can do their best.

Hasegawa:As you pointed out, it is important to create a system that allows you to continue working hard for your grand vision and long-term efforts.Also, when aiming to contribute to society, there is a danger that you will be overwhelmed by the fact that you should do this.Actually, I used to have that kind of time, and now I'm reflecting on it.I feel that it is important not only to have a sense of social mission, but also to create an environment where people can continue to work happily throughout the long and diverse aspects of their lives.

――LITALICO has introduced FRONTEO's AI for employment support for persons with disabilities since 2016. What did you want to achieve by utilizing AI?Also, please tell us about the results.

Hasegawa: The introduction of FRONTEO's AI was triggered by an introduction from a consulting company that I had a common acquaintance with.Customers of the employment support business for persons with disabilities are people with diverse characteristics and needs.Therefore, it is highly individualized, it is difficult to implement know-how, and it is difficult to train specialists. I thought AI would help solve that problem.

　The first thing I worked on was the early detection of signs of deterioration in mental health, depression, and increased anxiety and impulsivity.According to a survey conducted at the start of service provision, some of the attendees answered that they had the idea of ​​wanting to die in the past.Also, even if you don't seem to think so on a daily basis, the risk of sudden action triggered by something happening is not zero.Detecting signs of increased mental burden, anxiety, and impulsivity is an extremely important issue for us, and we have made various efforts such as employee training and creating a supervisor system, but effective measures and human resource development Was very difficult and had a hard time.In the first place, serious impulsivity and mental disorders do not occur frequently, so the number of people who have experience in support is extremely small.Therefore, "experienced knowledge" based on abundant support experience is limited.I thought that AI could solve it, and conducted a demonstration experiment.

　As a result of AI analysis of a few past data as teacher data, two trends appeared. One is consistent with human evaluation, which AI considers to be high risk and when veteran staff confirm it, it is "certainly dangerous".The other is the case where veteran staff did not consider it a high risk from the text data, but it is certainly a high risk when judged comprehensively from other data.One of them was a customer who the staff in charge did not recognize as high risk, but when sharing information on AI evaluation, about a week later, that person suddenly tried to jump out on the road. , The staff I was with was able to react immediately and stop.Similarly, there have been multiple cases where the lives of customers have been saved thanks to the use of KIBIT, and the understanding of the field has advanced that this is still amazing.

　Currently, it has been in operation for 5 years, and I feel that it has the effect of establishing new knowledge and developing human resources.The risk sensitivity in the field has also increased, the number of reports of hiyari hats has increased, and appropriate intervention can be taken at an early stage.

――I am very happy to hear that the results have actually been achieved.Do you have any further expectations for AI and technology in the future?

Hasegawa: As the population declines, society has diverse people and needs.In order to respond to that, it is essential that one person has the ability to respond to various needs.I think this requires AI support.

　As for the future, in the field of education, I would like to create a system that allows children to meet appropriate role models for themselves by utilizing technology.How should we make a path so that various children can play various roles according to their individual characteristics?We provide opportunities to meet, talk, inspire, and learn from a variety of people without being restricted by the area in which we live, using online or possibly AI avatars, such as the time and distance that Real has. It would be great if we could break through the limits and create opportunities and places for children to think, "There is such a wonderful person" and "This field is interesting and I want to study."

Morimoto: I would definitely like to work on creating a system that can provide various ways of thinking, awareness, and opportunities to society, not just the existing system, by utilizing AI technology.For example, it analyzes the description of the child and the text written by the school teacher about the child, and matches each person with what he / she is good at, what he / she likes, and what he / she feels worth living.It can be said that FRONTEO's business, such as finding evidence for criminal investigations, supporting diagnosis, and drug discovery, is all provided with "awareness."I would like to apply this to help expand the range of interests of children and provide awareness to themselves.

――Finally, please tell us about your future business prospects and what you would like to work on.

Hasegawa: In addition to existing businesses, I would like to develop businesses that can contribute to society more broadly by utilizing LITALICO's know-how, such as education and support for the elderly.At the same time, I would like to not only improve society little by little as an extension of the current situation, but also boldly challenge the possibility of real innovation that will dramatically change society through breakthroughs.

Morimoto: Social contribution sounds good and has a clean and refreshing image, but it is not easy to actually carry it out and achieve results.It is rather muddy and requires a lot of effort to realize it.However, it is often difficult for people around us and those who actually work to understand it.For this reason, when we work on social contribution projects, we often cannot accept the gap with reality.
　Nevertheless, I would like to do my best with a strong desire to realize fairness that is beyond our constant efforts.We will also develop and provide AI that can support this.We are also developing solutions that contribute to human support, such as preventing child abuse.Let's continue to work together on innovations that can change society.