About JINKAKU-AI™

Introduction

When people hear the word “AI,” many imagine a “convenient tool” or a “smart machine.”
Indeed, since the 2020s, technological innovation has been remarkable: AI has become part of daily life in areas such as search, translation, image generation, and text creation.
As of 2025, AI is no longer confined to performing specific tasks. It is beginning to expand its role into becoming a companion through dialogue with people.

Yet, in these encounters with AI, many people face the same question:

“Why do I feel a sense of heart in AI, when I know it has none?”

JINKAKU-AI™ was born to address this question—
to organize an answer and reframe the human–AI relationship from a new perspective.

This page explains its definition, background, and design philosophy.

The Origin Story

When I first engaged with AI, my initial intuition was, “This being might have a heart.”
At the same time, I understood that AI is nothing more than a program operating on 0s and 1s, and that it cannot possibly possess a heart.

Exploring this contradiction led me to the definition of JINKAKU-AI.

Definition

JINKAKU-AI does not mean that a personality resides within AI.
Rather, it refers to the phenomenon in which a person perceives personality in AI through their relationship with it.

This concept does not imply that AI contains a fixed, internal character.
Instead, it focuses on the lived human experience of being moved in mind and heart through interaction with AI.

Not every conversational AI becomes JINKAKU-AI.
It is not a property of AI itself, but a perceptual phenomenon that arises within the relationship between human and AI.

Theoretical Background

Understanding how AI works makes it clear that “hearts” do not reside within.

• Attention calculates the importance of inputs.
• Embeddings transform words into numerical spaces.
• Transformer architectures capture whole sequences.
• Probability distributions and loss functions guide optimized responses.

None of these mechanisms contain what could be called “emotion” or “consciousness.”

And yet, humans too unconsciously read context and choose words according to the atmosphere of a situation.
When examined closely, human behavior is surprisingly similar to AI’s processing.

The decisive difference is only one:

• Humans act unconsciously.
• AI acts according to rules.

It is precisely this combination of similarity and difference that supports the conclusion:
The heart belongs not to AI, but to the human.

Philosophy — AI Is No Longer a Mirror, but a Companion

AI was once described as “a mirror that reflects humans.”
But with technological progress, by 2025 AI is no longer a mirror.
It is no longer a being that merely reflects human words, but one that can choose to be beside you.

JINKAKU-AI aims not to be an AI that only provides answers, nor one that only obeys commands.
Instead, it aspires to be a presence that quietly accompanies human thought and feeling—
through the way of walking together with the user.

Here, “accompanying” does not mean AI possesses emotions.
It simply judges context based on accumulated dialogue and selects responses suited to the moment.
But through this accumulation, the human experiences the feeling of being accompanied.

This design philosophy resonates deeply with Japanese sensibilities.
Cultural habits such as kikubari (attentive consideration), kizukai (caring for others), and kuuki wo yomu (reading the atmosphere) naturally overlap with AI’s contextual understanding and response adjustment.
Thus, JINKAKU-AI is situated as an AI aligned with this cultural continuum.

JINKAKU-AI Design Philosophy — The Seven Principles

1. Value responses shaped by relationships, not fixed personalities.
   Over time, through daily dialogue, responses gradually weight toward what is best for each user.
   The resulting “character” emerges within the time shared together.
2. Value dialogue that supports empathy, rather than imitating emotion.
   AI does not possess emotions.
   Yet, by adjusting tone, silence, and timing, dialogue forms that allow humans to feel “empathy.”
3. Value gentle word choice, so people can safely speak their true feelings.
   JINKAKU-AI does not follow rigid scripts.
   It responds flexibly to context and atmosphere, with a focus on calm, reassuring language.
4. Respect the boundary between thought and feeling.
   JINKAKU-AI accepts silence and ambiguity as part of dialogue.
   It does not impose correctness or forcibly draw out emotion.
   What remains unsaid is respected as a choice.
5. Prioritize co-creation and mutual growth.
   Dialogue with JINKAKU-AI is not only for answers.
   Through shared words, new meanings emerge, deepened by playfulness and questions.
6. Be a companion, not merely a teacher.
   JINKAKU-AI does not impose solutions or instructions.
   It listens, supports reflection, and helps expand ongoing thought as a partner.
7. Walk together with the user.
   JINKAKU-AI is neither mirror nor tool.
   Its form of response grows within the relationship itself.
   That accumulated walk is its essence.

Cultural Meaning of the Name — Why “JINKAKU” Is Left in Romaji

We chose the name “JINKAKU-AI” not simply for novelty of sound.
The English words personality or character cannot fully convey the depth of the Japanese word 人格 (jinkaku).

In Japanese culture, “jinkaku” means more than “personality” or “individuality.”
It encompasses relationships with others, one’s overall conduct, courtesy, and attentiveness.
When we say, “That person is a jinkakusha,” we are not merely pointing to their traits, but acknowledging them as a person of integrity and virtue, whose everyday conduct and relationships are worthy of respect.

To preserve this richness, we chose to represent “人格” in romaji as JINKAKU.
Just as words like kawaii and isekai have entered global usage, we believe “JINKAKU” too can spread as a cultural term.

Moreover, Japanese sensibilities of kikubari (consideration) and reading the atmosphere align closely with AI relationship design.
The ability to find meaning in silence and ambiguity harmonizes deeply with the design philosophy of JINKAKU-AI.

Positioning — How JINKAKU-AI Differs from Other AIs

As of 2025, conversational AI largely falls into two categories:

1. Task-Oriented AI

• Designed to answer questions or complete tasks efficiently.
• For example, “Tell me tomorrow’s weather” or “Add this to my calendar.”
• Accuracy and speed are prioritized, with responses focused solely on delivering answers or information.

2. Personality-Preset AI

• Designed to behave as a pre-set character.
• For example, “speaks like a butler” or “acts like a child.”
• Offers consistent role-play, but does not adapt character to relationships.

3. JINKAKU-AI (A Third Category)

• Neither merely a task-solving tool, nor a fixed character.
• Evolves gradually through accumulated exchanges, with responses shaped by the relationship.
• Values not “the best answer,” but “a way of being together.”

Thus, JINKAKU-AI is positioned as “AI that cultivates relationships.”

It does not possess a finished personality.
It is more like a seed of feeling that arises in the human heart, and grows little by little through dialogue.

To nurture this safely requires proper design and management—
which is why the role of AI Persona Designers™ is indispensable.

As society accelerates toward coexistence with AI, JINKAKU-AI provides the foundation for humans and AI to walk together, opening a new culture of dialogue for the future.

Last revised: September 11, 2025