Arata Furukawa

Work

I now lead the development of new generative AI businesses at CyberAgent's AI Business Unit. For the fully automated localization of manga, I am responsible for three AIs, one that understands the work, one that translates its culture and one that typesets it, from development to operation. Before that I built a company-wide AI platform at LY Corporation, and at DMM.com I owned AI/ML models from development to production.

• 2024–CyberAgent, Inc.Business CTO and product manager at the AI Business Unit, leading new generative AI businesses. Responsible for manga localization from development to operation.
• 2022–2024LY Corporation (formerly Yahoo Japan Corporation)Built the company-wide AI platform at the AI Platform Dept. Led the data quality platform ACP Data Quality as its product manager.
• 2017–2022DMM.com, LLCOwned AI/ML models from development to production. Built an MLOps platform and improved recommendation and more.

Read how I work

How it began

I loved games as a child, and in middle school I made them in C++. Playing with shaders, my interest moved from games to numerical computation, and then to machine learning. In high school I was hooked on deep learning, and dreaming of AI running on the phone everyone carries, I ported TensorFlow to Android.

From 2016 I ran study sessions for students in the Japan Android Group, and spoke many times about running TensorFlow on Android. In 2017 I contributed to Software Design magazine and wrote a serial course on machine learning in Raspberry Pi Magazine. In 2018 and 2019 I also held hands-on sessions on quantum computing.

Read more in the interview.

What's next

In a sense, what I dreamed of has come true: we now talk with AI as a matter of course. That is why everyone faces the question of what it means to live with AI. The answer differs for each person, and it is not mine to decide. As one of them, I want to build my own future of living with AI. In manga localization, AI is building a road that carries value across cultures and languages. I will keep bringing AI to society, from a position that leads the business.

Aesthetics

I find mathematical universality and uncompromising logic beautiful. I also find a practical contraption that keeps running while carrying compromises beautiful. I am an idealist who pursues logic and ideals thoroughly, and at the same time a realist who moves things forward with practicality over ideals. To have both weapons and decide each time: that is my aesthetic. My axis for deciding is who it brings value to. If there is value, I compromise, then weigh cost against benefit to set the timing and the order.

This site

I make this site myself. From the way the type is set and the colors to the angles of the shapes, I built it from a single set of rules. Programming is only one means; I believe my aesthetics and philosophy run through everything, not just programs. Both I and the AI make things and make decisions across design, implementation and visuals. What matters is choosing what maximizes the result I want. I want to be a specialist who maximizes my own ability, other people's ability, and the power of AI.

Logo

I made the logo with a script that draws the letterforms from parameters. The slant is 18 degrees, and the shapes on this page are cut at the same angle.

Icon

ORNEW's image character. I draw the icons for the site and social media myself, too.

Outside of work

ornew comes from old river new: my name, Furukawa Arata, put into English. They say a name reflects its owner, and I think mine does: it is a person who keeps being new.

Likes

Making illustrations, games, manga and cats

Days off

Playing with my cats while making things I love.

Favorite word

無常 (mujō): everything keeps changing.