1st Day of Inaugural Kyoto Conference Attended by 300 People from 18 Countries

One of the conference’s defining features is its creation of a new platform for dialogue, bringing together top executives from the industrial sector with philosophers and other leading thinkers. On September 23, six panel discussions, including a lunch session, fostered unconventional conversations that transcended specific fields. The conference also introduced a roundtable initiative where attendees were divided into seven tables for open discussions. These sessions were followed by a "Wrap-up Panel," where representatives of each table summarized and presented the key points of discussion.

The panel and roundtable discussions, with themes such as "AI and the Question of The Human" and "Cultural Diversity and Universal Values," philosophically re-examined societal challenges facing humanity. They prompted deep conversations about the direction society should take amid the rapid evolution of technology, such as AI, and explored fundamental concepts like human dignity and values.

At the panel discussion titled "Industry as a Driver of Social Change," three speakers—Mutsuo Iwai, Chairperson of Japan Tobacco Inc.; Kumiko Omori, Vice President of the Chief Executive Fellow's Office at NTT, Inc.; and Toshikazu Yamaguchi, Representative Director President of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings—spoke about values from the perspective of the business world and exchanged opinions with Takahiro Nakajima, Professor of the University of Tokyo; and　Masaki Nomura, Executive Advisor of the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy.

Three more panel discussions are scheduled for the second day of the conference on the 24th."