Yasuki Saito

Yasuki Saito
斉藤 康己教授

Profile

  • Master of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering
  • Master of Computer Science with distinction, University of Essex Graduate School of Computer Science, UK, Doctor of Engineering, University of Tokyo
  • Former Director of Engineering, Corporate Sales Division 2, NTT Communications Corporation
  • Former Professor, IT Planning Office, Kyoto University Information Environment Agency, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University
  • Advanced Research Support Professional/Engineer, Guardian Robot Project, Information Integration Headquarters, RIKEN

Message

I have been appointed to teach at KCGI. My areas of expertise include Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet, and Cognitive Science. In the first half of my life, I was a researcher, and from around the age of 45, I have been in the business field.

The most important thing I want to tell the students is that studying is something you do on your own. Nowadays, there is an abundance of information available on the internet.Don't be passive, but be proactive and absorb and digest everything from your teachers and your classmates, and become someone who thinks deeply and accomplishes great things.

Here’s just one piece of advice.Recently, LLMs (Large Language Models) have become very popular, and I’m sure many of you have used tools like Chat-GPT. However, having seen all three AI booms, I think the current fuss in the world is just a passing fad. Simply put, I think it's just that "information search has become easier.The tendency of hallucinations and "habit" of answering false information isdeep-rooted and will not be easily improved. So, don't just blindly trust the answers provided by these systems, but look at the facts with your own eyes, confirm them, and think carefully before coming to a conclusion.

AI is a fascinating field, but I believe it will still take time for its true potential to be realized.Someone who shares this view is Yann LeCun, a key figure in the machine learning boom who is often mentioned alongside Hinton and Bengio. I highly recommend h@ylecunis blog (X: @ylecun)!His interaction with Gary Marcus is also quite interesting.

Finally, I would like to share some of my mottos as a message to all of you:

  • Where there is a will there is a way!
  • He who dares wins.
  • Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today,
    but if you are sleepy, throw away everything and go to bed immediately :-).

That last line is something I added myself, and it’s very important:sleep well, learn well!

Responsible Subject

  • Natural Language Processing
  • Cloud Networking and Virtualization
  • Overview of Web Technology

Field of Specialization

  • Computer Science (CS)
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Internet
  • Cognitive Science

Business Performance

  • First acquisition of a global IP address in Japan (article in JPNIC Newsletter, No.62, p.18).
  • Development of Japanese TeX and jTeX (Computer Software Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 52--65).
  • Start of IPv6 commercial service at NTT Communications (around 2002, ahead of the rest of the world)

Books

  • "From Digital Libraries to Information Markets" in Chapter 4 of "AI Caprice" edited by Takeuchi Ikuo (NTT Publishing, pp.271–285)
  • "Why was AlphaGo able to beat humans?" by Saito Yasumi (KK Bestsellers Best Shinsho 530)

Paper

  • "Expandable Screen Editor EMACS (Commentary)": Information Processing Vol.25, No.8, pp.777–789, August 1984
  • ”A Comparative Study of Man--Machine Interfaces in Interactive Systems”, co-authored: ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 1984
  • “Japanese TeX: jTeX (Software Review)”: Computer Software Vol.5, No.4, pp.52–65, October 1988
  • “Socially Distributed Cognition and Human Cognition -- How Are They Different? (Editorial)”: Development of Cognitive Science Vol.7, pp.81–88, March 1994(Editorial): Advances in Cognitive Science Vol. 7, pp. 81-88, March 1994.
  • “Computer Go Research (Commentary)”: Journal of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence Vol.10, No.6, pp.860-869, November 1995
  • ”A Protocol Study of Problem Solving in the Game of Go (Poster）”：18th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (San Diego), 1996
  • "The new world of the Internet: IPv6": Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan 24(8), pp.610-615, August 2004
  • "Toward a new methodology for cognitive science: Cognitive science, become a big science": Cognitive Science Vol.28, No.3, 2021, pp.398-409, September 2021

Articles from commercial magazines, etc.

  • Roundtable discussion with Richard Stallman - A True Hacker's monologue: bit vol.19, no.9, Kyoritsu Shuppan, August 1987
  • Japanese document fair copy system: jTeX: Iwanami "Science" Vol.58, No.9, pp.565-569, September 1987
  • Symbol grounding problem: Monthly Language August issue Vol.23, No.8, pp.58-65, July 1994
  • Information theory: bit, Vol.26, No.10, pp.8–12, October 1994
  • Is the Internet a library?: Japanese Language Studies Vol.15, No.11, Meijishoin, November 1996
  • An episode in the history of the Internet "The first IP address allocation in Japan": JPNIC Newsletter, No.62, p.18, March 2016

Translation

  • Douglas Hofstadter: Metamagic Game, co-translated, Hakuyosha, October 1990
  • Ted Nelson: The Literary Machine, co-translated, ASCII Publishing, August 1994

Awards

  • U.S. Ambassador's Award for Outstanding Individuals in the Eiken Grade 1 Examination (Japan English Language Proficiency Test Association), March 1979
  • First ASTEM Software Culture Award for the development of the Japanese document fair copy program jTeX (Kyoto Advanced Technology Research Institute ASTEM), November 1994
  • First CGF Award (Computer Go Forum Award), an award given by the Computer Go Forum to those who have contributed to the development of Go programs, April 1998