KAIGI Singularity

Omuta City has lost nearly half of its population since its peak as a coal-mining city in 1959 and now has about 103,000 residents, with an aging rate of 38.4%. By 2045, the working-age population is expected to fall to 60% of its 2015 level, leading to severe labor shortages already affecting care services, transportation, and infrastructure. Although difficult prioritization is unavoidable, local meetings often end in reports rather than debate, as people hesitate to voice concerns to avoid friction. This social dynamic suppresses essential discussion—a challenge shared by many regions.

In October 2024, KAIGI Singularity was implemented as a collaborative initiative by the Omuta Future Co-Creation Center, NTT, the Regional Revitalization Co-Design Research Institute, and Omuta City. The project explored a novel application of generative AI as a way to address the difficulty of meaningful deliberation in local decision-making contexts.
In KAIGI Singularity, multiple AI agents—each assigned a distinct area of expertise corresponding to the attributes of meeting participants—are set up in advance. These AIs begin by openly discussing challenges facing Omuta from their respective professional standpoints. While AI-generated ideas can easily drift toward abstract or generic proposals, such outputs would normally fail to resonate with local professionals and practitioners. To avoid this, the AI agents in KAIGI Singularity are provided with foundational information about Omuta, resulting in exchanges that feel as though the AIs are earnestly grappling with the city’s specific realities.

This framing produces an unexpected effect. Observing the AI discussion, human participants are prompted to respond with reactions such as, "The situation is actually more like this," or "I would put it differently." In this way, the AI conversation functions as a catalyst that draws people into speaking from their own experience.
Crucially, the AI agents also critique one another without reservation. For instance, an AI playing the role of a public health nurse might offer persuasive criticism of an AI playing the role of a doctor. This AI's "lack of social awareness" breaks through existing social barriers, creating a sense of informality. As a result, it becomes easier for people gathered here to voice opinions that might be difficult to express due to their positions. This also lowers the barrier for speaking up among those in authoritative positions within the community, who are often expected to be infallible.
Through dialogue with such AIs, a space emerges where it becomes easier to voice one's thoughts. However, this "ease of speaking" goes beyond that found in spaces carefully designed to foster a sense of security. The key point here is that the differences between AI and humans, along with the discomfort felt towards AI statements, subtly liberate people from the shackles of the community and awaken a sense of agency: "This is how I would think about it." Meetings convened by these awakened "I's" will gain concreteness and direction as genuine discussions that confront the realities of the community. In this way, the Meeting Singularity is an attempt to overcome barriers to decision-making by drawing out the agency of the people who live in the community.