President and CEO 
 Tohru Asami 

　Happy New Year.
　For Keihanna Science City, where ATR is located, 2025 was a year of great vitality, energized by Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan and the Keihanna Expo. The project “Realization of an Avatar Symbiotic Society Where Everyone Can Act Freely,” led by Special Research Director Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is also a professor at Osaka University, conducted demonstration experiments at the Future of Life Pavilion, and ATR supported these efforts company-wide. As a result, the project became an ideal opportunity to communicate the achievements of the Moonshot Research and Development Program promoted by the Cabinet Office.
　At the Keihanna Expo, we also demonstrated a humanoid robot riding a skateboard and took charge of the operating subcommittees for “Robots, Avatars, and ICT” and “Startups.” Looking back, it was truly a year that we raced through amid great excitement.
　Looking back over the year, it was repeatedly demonstrated that AI can go beyond supporting people, taking on tasks from idea generation to paper writing and even contributing to papers accepted at the most competitive international conferences. AI can no longer be regarded merely as a tool for improving the efficiency of routine work; it has reached the point where it may substitute for humans even in the realm of creativity. The singularity that Ray Kurzweil predicted would arrive in 2045 feels, in practical terms, as if it is arriving far earlier.
　In light of this situation, I believe we have entered an era in which the smallest unit supporting the capitalist system should no longer be understood as the “human being” alone, but rather as “collaboration between humans and AI.” AI includes “invisible AI,” represented by LLMs (Large Language Models), and “visible AI,” represented by robots and avatars. Avatars are remotely operated robots, and they are also an application area in which ATR can make full use of the wireless communication technologies it has cultivated over many years.
　Taking “visible AI” one step further, we call robots that are directly connected to the body and the senses “cyborg AI,” and we have advanced research on this concept in the field of brain information science. Another important goal of brain information science is to realize treatments for mental disorders that do not rely on medication. Avatars, cyborg AI, and mental disorder treatment are all core themes in ATR’s research and development efforts toward the “future of life.”
　Now that the singularity is becoming a reality, corporate management is also shifting toward collaboration with AI, and the very nature of research is expected to undergo major transformation. We will work more actively than ever to build relationships through research exchange and joint research with universities, research institutes, companies, and other organizations in Japan and overseas.
　We sincerely ask for your continued understanding and support for ATR in the year ahead.