Japan's AI expert panel paper sets out a working group on the AI Act

The Cabinet Office list of AI Strategy Expert Panel meetings shows a 7th meeting on 26 October 2026. The minutes column still says the summary is in preparation. The linked secretariat paper is dated 26 October 2026.

That paper sets out a working group under the panel. The paper's name for it is 制度の在り方検討WG, a group to consider the form of the system. Its stated purpose is to discuss that form, including a review of the existing legal system for AI, because of concern that systems using advanced models could be misused or behave in unexpected ways and cause serious harm. Under a heading marked as a draft schedule, the paper says the first meeting is on 28 October, to organise the legal issues, including amendment of the AI Act. The meetings list does not include a separate record of that working-group meeting.

The same paper records remarks from the 22 October meeting of the AI and Digital Reform Promotion Council. In that record, the Chief Cabinet Secretary asks the AI strategy minister to make the picture of AI transformation in 2030 clear by the end of the year, and to proceed with a review of legal systems, including the AI Act, toward trustworthy AI, and with a further strengthening of the AI Safety Institute. Those are requests recorded in the paper. They are not an amendment.

The paper does not change the AI Promotion Act and does not set a penalty. The Act remains a framework law without penalties. This working group sits under the AI Strategy Expert Panel. It is a different body from the AI and Digital Reform Promotion Council, which held its first meeting on 22 October.

What it means for business: no new duty and no fine. Firms that develop or provide AI in Japan may want to follow the working group, because the paper puts amendment of the Act on its draft agenda. The 28 October date is that draft schedule.