Can AI matchmaking help Japan boost its flagging birth rate?
- The government plans to allocate US$19 million in the next financial year to back local authorities that run schemes to help their residents find love
- Japan’s fertility rate was 1.36 last year, one of the world’s lowest and far below the rate needed to maintain its population
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Japan expects record low number of newborns in 2020
The number of births in 2019 was down 5.8 per cent to around 865,000, the lowest annual figure ever: a drop in the number of marriages and a rise in the age of marriage both played a part.
In a country with a long history of human matchmakers, local governments have already moved on to AI matching systems to pair people up, but many only consider criteria such as income and age and only produce results if there is an exact match.
The latest envisaged central government funding will allow access to systems which pair people with a potential partner even if those income or age wishes do not match, the Yomiuri newspaper reported. A cabinet official said that although it might not conjure thoughts of romance, AI tech can match a wider and smarter range of potential suitors.
“We are especially planning to offer subsidies to local governments operating or starting up matchmaking projects that use AI,” he said. “We hope this support will help reverse the decline in the nation’s birth rate.”