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Last year the number of babies born in Japan fell below 865,000 - a record low. The fast-greying nation has long been searching for ways to reverse one of the world's lowest fertility rates. Boosting the use of AI tech is one of its latest efforts. Japan plans to boost its tumbling birth rate by funding artificial intelligence matchmaking schemes to help residents find love. From next year it will subsidise local governments already running or starting projects that use AI to pair people up. A few of the existing systems are limited to considering criteria such as income and age, only producing a result if there is an exact match. Local media say that the funding aims to allow authorities to harness more costly advanced systems that take into account factors like hobbies and values. Sachiko Horiguchi, a socio-cultural and medical anthropologist at Japan's Temple University, thinks there are better ways for the government to bump up the birth rate than subsidising AI matchmaking - such as helping young people earning low wages. She pointed to a recent report which suggests a link between lower income levels and the loss of interest in romantic relationships among young Japanese adults. Analysts have long pointed towards the lack of support for working mothers in Japan, where there are strong expectations that women will do all the housework and raise children alongside doing their jobs.
