Announcement: Establishment of the Artificial Life Institute as a General Incorporated Foundation
The Artificial Life Institute has formally incorporated as a general incorporated foundation, with new Councilors joining its governance.
Founded by SmartNews founder Ken Suzuki and Nintendo founding family member Banjo Yamauchi together with artificial life researchers. Juichi Yamagiwa (former President, Kyoto University; Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature), Mamoru Taniya, and Hiro Yoshikawa join as Councilors.
The Artificial Life Institute (ALife Institute; headquartered in Kyoto, Japan; Representative Director: Mizuki Oka) announces that its research and education activities in the field of artificial life (ALife) have been formally incorporated as a general incorporated foundation. Built on a community of researchers who have been active at a research base in Gojo, Kyoto dedicated to ALife, the Institute’s board of directors comprises ALife researcher Mizuki Oka, SmartNews co-founder Ken Suzuki, and Nintendo founding family member Banjo Yamauchi.
As AI development capacity concentrates in a handful of countries and corporations, interest in ALife research — which considers the future of AI and society through the question “what is life?” — is rapidly growing across the world’s AI research community, from Silicon Valley onward. As an independent research institute affiliated with neither a university nor a government body, the ALife Institute is establishing in Japan a model of research operations sustained by donations and membership fees, sending ALife-informed thinking, technology, and talent from Kyoto to the world.
Additionally, three individuals have joined as Councilors: Juichi Yamagiwa (former President, Kyoto University; Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature), Hiro Yoshikawa (Founder, Treasure Data), and Mamoru Taniya (Chairperson, SDG Impact Japan). Having each led their respective fields — primatology, Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and investment, and finance and education — these three now support the Institute’s governance.
Background to the Founding
The ALife Institute is a research base established in Gojo, Kyoto, centered on ALife researcher Mizuki Oka, SmartNews co-founder Ken Suzuki, Takashi Ikegami (a world-renowned authority in complex systems and artificial life), Kyoto University’s Tadahiro Taniguchi, and Olaf Witkowski, President of the International Society for Artificial Life. Through repeated residencies and seminars hosting leading researchers from Japan and abroad, and study sessions bringing together executives and engineers, it has built a flow of the world’s ALife researchers gathering in Kyoto.
ALife is a discipline that seeks to understand “what is life?” by building it on a computer. Where artificial intelligence has measured intelligence against the human standard, ALife asks about the full space of possible life, reframing humans and their intelligence as merely one instance within it. As large language models and AI agents spread through society, this perspective is becoming indispensable to thinking about AI safety and the coexistence of humans and AI.
At the same time, ALife does not fit within any single academic department. Just as complexity science spread outward from an independent institute — the Santa Fe Institute — ALife, too, has needed a place where researchers can gather across biology, physics, computer science, and philosophy, beyond the boundaries of any one university. The ALife Institute brings together researchers affiliated with universities and research institutions in Japan and abroad, alongside entrepreneurs, investors, and engineers. We are carrying this diverse gathering forward to the next generation as a general incorporated foundation sustained by donations and membership fees — a form that ties Kyoto’s culture and view of nature to the world’s research community.
Main Activities
- Research: Research into open-ended evolution, Symbiotic Alignment aimed at the coexistence of humans and AI, and Collective AI Agents elucidating the social structures and culture that emerge among groups of AI agents, alongside residencies and seminars hosting leading researchers from Japan and abroad at the Institute’s research base in Gojo, Kyoto.
- Community: Study sessions where world-class researchers and engineers gather in Kyoto to discuss the frontiers of research and draw lessons for their future work and lives, planned on an ongoing basis.
- Donation programs: General and research donation programs supporting research activities, along with named scholarship programs supporting the development of early-career researchers.
- Joint research: Accepting joint research with companies, universities, and research institutions.
Governance and Comments from Key Members
With incorporation, we are pleased to report a new structure that welcomes Councilors. By bringing in leaders active at the forefront of their respective fields, we are strengthening the Institute’s governance and building trust with society.
Board of Directors
Mizuki Oka (Representative Director)
“Based in Gojo, Kyoto, we have built a place where researchers active at the forefront around the world can enjoy the pursuit of inquiry itself. By taking the form of a general incorporated foundation, I believe we can hand this activity down to the next generation not as something temporary, but as a lasting structure.
Precisely because we live in an age of rapid AI advancement, I believe there is great meaning in continuing to ask what ‘life-likeness’ means — something that cannot be measured by efficiency or optimization alone. I look forward to growing this together with our Councilors and community.”
(Profile) Representative Director and Co-Founder of the ALife Institute. Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Design & Science, Chiba Institute of Technology. Ph.D. (Engineering). Project Manager, IPA Mitou IT Talent Discovery and Development Program. Representative Director, ConnectSphere Inc. Engaged in artificial life (ALife) research on the theme of open-endedness, aiming to create a future society in which humans and AI co-create. Works to promote innovation and new forms of content through the development of AI that is both creative and safe, grounding her research at the university while placing emphasis on social implementation. Author of “ALIFE: Toward More Life-like AI” and “Building and Running ALife: An Introduction to Artificial Life Model Theory through Implementation,” among others.
Ken Suzuki (Chairperson)
“If you want to think about artificial intelligence, you should start from artificial life. Intelligence and consciousness are both phenomena that derive from life. And of all complex phenomena, none is more complex than life. Artificial life emerged from the movement of complexity science precisely in order to handle that complexity without stripping it away. Artificial intelligence has always been measured against the human standard — how close to human, or how far beyond human. But what artificial life asks is the full space of possible life, of which humans and their intelligence are merely one form that happened to be realized. To live in this complex world as it is, without reducing its complexity, I want to push artificial life research forward now more than ever. We begin from this institute, together with colleagues around the world.”
(Profile) Project Professor, Keio University. Born in Nagano Prefecture in 1975. Graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University in 1998. Completed a Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo in 2009 (Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies). After serving as a Senior Researcher at the Global Communication Center of the International University of Japan and as a Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation’s Virtual Institute, co-founded SmartNews, Inc. in 2012. Author of “A Supple Society and Its Enemies,” and co-translator of “Being There,” among others. Specializes in complex systems science and natural philosophy.
Banjo Yamauchi (Director)
“Since childhood, I’ve been captivated by science fiction and visions of the near future. Growing up with games, manga, and anime, my heart raced at technologies that might one day become real. Among these, AI is now truly coming into full bloom. Rather than watch from the sidelines, I wanted to find a way to contribute to this current. ALife advances artificial life research and offers the knowledge it has cultivated to AI and many other fields. The culture and view of nature cultivated in Kyoto resonates with this. With the Yamauchi family’s spirit of valuing originality, I will help drive ALife’s growth together.”
(Profile) Graduated from the School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University in 2016 and joined Hakuhodo Inc. Became Director and Executive Officer of Yamauchi, Inc. in 2019. Representative of Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office LLC. Established the Yamauchi Foundation in 2021. Visiting researcher at Stanford University’s APARC, 2023–2024.
Councilors
Juichi Yamagiwa
“My research has centered on ecosystems built around gorillas. Though this differs from artificial life as a field, now that AI has come to permeate the daily lives of so many people, I believe that understanding and applying insights from ecosystems will prove valuable in engineering as well. As someone who has deepened my learning centered in Kyoto, I support this initiative also from the perspective of demonstrating a new way for research to be conducted.”
(Profile) Graduated from the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, and withdrew after completing coursework in the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Science. Doctor of Science. Held positions including Visiting Researcher at the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, Researcher at the Japan Monkey Centre, Research Associate then Associate Professor and Professor at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute and Graduate School of Science, and Dean of the Graduate School of Science / Faculty of Science, before serving as the 26th President of Kyoto University until 2020. Specializes in human evolutionary theory. Conducted socioecological research on wild Japanese macaques on Yakushima Island and wild gorillas across Africa. Served as President of the Primate Society of Japan, President of the International Primatological Society, President of the Science Council of Japan, and Member of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, and as Senior Advisor to Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. Currently Director-General of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. Recipient of the Minakata Kumagusu Award and the Academia Award. Author of “Everything Important in Life I Learned from Gorillas,” among others.
Mamoru Taniya.jpg)
“It is an honor to join alongside Ms. Oka, a fellow UWC graduate, Mr. Suzuki, whom I deeply respect intellectually, and Mr. Yamauchi, a fellow investor. Having spent my career at the frontier of finance, working on the design of capital circulation between business and society, I found in this initiative something I believe will have a major impact on the future of the world and the trajectory of AI, and so I accepted the role of Councilor.”
(Profile) As Representative of SDG Impact Japan, has made it his life’s work to create projects and services suited to the changing times and society. Notable achievements include launching Lifenet Insurance, Japan’s first online life insurance company, and founding Money Design, Japan’s first robo-advisory service. Also serves as Chairman of MNES and of Discover Japan. As a father of three and as an entrepreneur, conceived the concept for ISAK around 2005 and became a founding representative of UWC ISAK Japan, Japan’s first boarding international school. His work is grounded in a deep commitment to wellbeing, education, and long-term social impact. Graduated from the Faculty of Law, The University of Tokyo, in 1987.
Hiro Yoshikawa
“Through my years in management and investment around innovation in Silicon Valley, I’ve come to feel that the truly interesting futures emerge from outside anyone’s plan. Much of human history seems to prove this. I see great potential in the fact that a place like this exists in Kyoto — where diverse people gather to freely explore the question of ‘what is life?’ Rather than merely chasing the world, I hope to help build, in Japan, a place that draws the world’s talent. By connecting researchers and entrepreneurs across Japan and the world in this effort, I hope it becomes, over the long term, a small contribution to the advancement of humanity.”
(Profile) Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and investor. Previously held roles at Red Hat and the investment fund of Mitsui & Co. Co-founded Treasure Data in 2011; led its growth as CEO through the company’s 2018 acquisition by Arm (UK), and now serves as Chairman of the Board. Founded Carbide Ventures in 2021.
Secretary General
Eriko Nonaka
“Drawing on experience in finance and new business development, I have supported the growth of a range of ventures through startups and nonprofit organizations. While wrestling with the question of how finance can support the advancement of science, I was fortunate to connect with this Institute. Japan now stands at a crossroads in how it will advance basic research and deep tech. I hope to draw on my experience so far to help move this initiative forward.”
(Profile) After roles at MUFG Bank (Markets Division), SoftBank (New Business Development), and as Secretary General of the Fintech Association of Japan, founded a company providing management planning and business development support for diverse organizations. Representative Director, N.FIELD Inc. Research Fellow, AI Governance Association. Director, Startup Weekend (NPO).
Organization Overview
Name: Artificial Life Institute (Japanese: 一般財団法人 人工生命研究機構; also known as ALife Institute)
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Date of Establishment: June 27, 2026
Representative Director: Mizuki Oka
Website: https://alife.institute
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