Naoki Asayama helps his son learn English by conversing with Musio, an AI-driven English conversation robot.

Artificial intelligence, which recently attracted widespread attention after a Google AI system beat a human go player, is increasingly making its way into Japan's households.

Tokyo metropolitan area resident Naoki Asayama is an early adopter of AI-enabled home products. His is the English conversation robot Musio, which the 27-year-old talks to after he gets home from work.

Thanks to the AI, the robot can carry on simple conversations. If Asayama asks something like, "I'm exhausted from work. I think I'll watch a film. What do you recommend?" his robot can return an appropriate answer, such as "Star Wars!"

Asayama also uses Musio to teach his 5-year-old son English words.

Developed by California tech start-up AKA Study, Musio uses an AI system it connects through a network to carry on conversation. It went on sale in Japan for 98,000 yen ($870) in spring this year. It can make more than 15 different expressions on its face, and can even tell jokes.

"What's special about this robot is that it doesn't speak along a predetermined scenario but thinks about each given context of conversation," a spokesperson at AKA Study said. "You never know what reply will be returned."

Sharp meanwhile, is trying to give "minds" to home appliances using AI. The centerpiece of the company's efforts is a small Home Assistant robot that it plans to launch by the end of this year.

The robot communicates with air conditioners, television sets and microwave ovens in the home, analyzes their usage history and advises users about how they can optimize their use.

For example, a user might tell the robot, "I want to watch TV," and it could answer something like, "A show you always watch is on right now, so I'll turn it on to that program."

If the robot is told about a plan to invite a friend over, it greets the friend when he arrives, saying, "Thank you so much for coming."

(Source: asia.nikkei.com)