AI Promotion Act (Japan, 2025)
Japan's first hard law specifically targeting AI. Enacted 4 June 2025. Establishes an AI Strategy Headquarters, mandates a national AI Basic Plan, and grants the government cooperation-request authority over relevant operators.
Definition
Formally the "Act on the Promotion of Research, Development, and Utilization of AI-Related Technologies." Establishes the "AI Strategy Headquarters" chaired by the Prime Minister, and mandates that the government formulate an AI Basic Plan.
The substance leans toward R&D promotion, talent development, international coordination, and partial risk management. Unlike the EU AI Act, there are no outright prohibitions or fine schedules — promotion and limited risk handling form the dual axes. Direct sanctions are minimal.
Functions as a skeleton law: concrete obligations are delegated to ordinances, the government plan, and various guidelines (the AI Business Operator Guidelines included). Effective enforcement depends on subsequent rulemaking.
Lemma Oracle compliance path
Lemma's verifiable-AI infrastructure is positioned as the technical answer to the Act's call for "responsible R&D and use." Public procurement and public-sector AI uses are increasingly likely to require verifiability — Lemma's infrastructure is positioned to meet that requirement ahead of the regulatory cycle.
Combined with the AI Business Operator Guidelines, hard-law (Promotion Act) plus soft-law (Guidelines) governance lines up across both surfaces.
Companies that have already deployed Lemma against EU AI Act can extend the same infrastructure to the Japanese regulatory perimeter — minimizing the global cost of AI compliance.