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The story
In October 2025, NTT Docomo Business began operating an “AI Boss” trained on managers’ decision-making criteria and job know-how, and in under a year rolled it out to all 37 organizations within the company, deploying more than 200 instances. Beyond streamlining tasks like document preparation, the company reportedly has its sights set on eventually selling the system externally too. On 5ch, reactions were mixed: some flipped the idea around (“Isn’t it the subordinates, not the bosses, who could just be replaced by AI?”), others argued AI would be fairer (“At least AI is impartial when it comes to accurate judgment”), and still others took jabs at Nikkei, the outlet that broke the story.
NTT Docomo Business is expanding its use of an “AI Boss” — artificial intelligence that reflects managers’ thinking and fields employee questions. In about a year, it has deployed more than 200 instances across all 37 organizations within the company. The goal is to streamline work such as document preparation, with an eye toward eventually selling the system externally as well.
The AI Boss rollout began in October 2025. It reflects the decision-making criteria and job knowledge of department heads, section chiefs, and other managers, generating answers based on meeting minutes and documents. It can even respond in a style that mimics the actual person’s manner of speaking…
Source: nikkei.com / Original article here
What people said
Though it's probably too late for that already
The boss is exactly what's needed
Only a boss with real business domain knowledge can set the right goals to aim for
If a boss can't do that, he isn't really a boss
Is Docomo that kind of company?
They're out here trying to fool the Japanese public
If anything, the type who's happy to work overtime because it means more pay
That's the level we're talking about
It'd probably be an improvement over now
I'd love to see them publish articles with nothing but truth and facts (would that send the whole world into a panic?)
Soviet Pravda and Izvestia were ahead of their time (ironic nod to Soviet propaganda papers whose names meant "Truth" and "News")
Of course you need a sales force
Then there's the section chief overseeing Sales Section 1 — what does he actually do?
Tracking the section's progress toward targets, each rep's sales numbers, fixing mistakes, cracking the whip, pushing recommended products
Set up the system properly and none of that requires a person
But isn't this getting sold externally too?
But in exchange, give the frontline staff a raise
If they don't overhaul that outdated pay structure, people are going to start quitting
Your salary accurately reflects your performance
If you're dissatisfied, feel free to go elsewhere
Finding your replacement takes less effort than pulling a weed
— AI Boss
But it can handle ten people talking to it at the same time
Weeds lol, literally "grass" lol (草/"grass" is net slang for "lol", playing off the previous post's "weed" line)
Nobody's needed — so blue-collar workers aren't needed
AI isn't needed either
That's just how it is
The boss slot is settled — AI it is. But the real problem is the subordinates.
Honestly, AI would be far more capable than these guys too.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The AI Boss works by training a generative AI on managers’ meeting minutes and documents and having it respond in that manager’s own speaking style — it appears to function less as a stand-in for actual decision-making and more as a source of guidance and a sounding board. Docomo Business’s expansion from launch in October 2025 to over 200 units across all 37 internal organizations in under a year reflects both a push to streamline routine tasks like document preparation and a business ambition to eventually sell the system externally. Opinions on the thread split between those arguing “it’s the boss who’s replaceable by AI” and those arguing the opposite — that AI should be applied to the work of subordinates and middle managers before bosses — with some pointing out that overseas, AI replacement tends to start with new graduates and junior staff first. The article alone doesn’t make clear how far the AI Boss extends into personnel evaluations and reviews, or how much final decision-making authority remains with human managers on the ground — where that line gets drawn is likely to be the focus going forward.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “[AI] Isn’t an “AI Boss” Already Enough? Docomo Business Deploys 200+, From Department Heads to Section Chiefs.”
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