Japan's Digital Agency to Roll Out AI Agents to 180,000 Staff
The Digital Agency will introduce Agent Chat from October 20, 2026, and aims to add the more advanced Gennai Kobo by around December.
Japan's Digital Agency announced on October 20, 2026 that it will add an AI agent environment to its government AI system, Gennai, for use by about 180,000 government employees. Deployment of a tool called Agent Chat will begin the same day and proceed in stages across ministries and agencies, according to watch.impress.co.jp.
Agent Chat lets users create and run AI agents with little setup, and supports agent use comparable to Claude Cowork, the agency said. The agency aims to introduce a second environment, Gennai Kobo, by around December 2026; it is designed for agent use comparable to Claude Code and supports direct access to specified websites and Deep Research.
The Digital Agency said the project, which brings an advanced AI agent environment to roughly 180,000 people as shared government infrastructure, is the first of its kind in the world.
Safety standards and open-source release
The agency also drew up the Gennai Standards, a set of governance, security and safety rules for the government AI. The standards set out duties and compliance requirements according to whether a user is an end user, an administrator or a developer, and were drafted with cooperation from the AI Safety Institute (AISI).
Gennai OSS Ver. 2.0, an open-source release of the system, is scheduled to be published around February 2027.
Quick answers
When will Agent Chat be introduced?
Deployment begins on October 20, 2026 and will be rolled out in stages across ministries and agencies.
What is Gennai Kobo?
It is a more advanced AI agent environment comparable to Claude Code, supporting direct access to specified websites and Deep Research. The Digital Agency aims to introduce it by around December 2026.
When will Gennai OSS Ver. 2.0 be released?
The Digital Agency plans to publish it around February 2027.