[No. 157] Kazuna Tsuboi

When I was deciding on my future path in high school, a friend who loved games mentioned they were aiming for the Department of Information and Computer Science. This sparked the idea in me, and I naturally decided, "I want to make games in the future," leading me down the path to the same department. Looking back, this choice seems to be the result of purely pursuing my interests. Influenced by my father, who worked in the semiconductor industry, my childhood pastimes were computers and games. By elementary school, my father and I had created my own email address and were sending messages to each other. In junior high, I spent all my time on messengers with friends from overseas. By high school, I was building my own websites, and information technology was a part of my daily life. I also preferred science subjects to liberal arts subjects, so I naturally gravitated toward a scientific path. I took the entrance exams with the goal of entering the Department of Information and Computer Science.

During my undergraduate years, for my first and second years, I didn't limit myself to science subjects. I was able to take a wide range of liberal arts classes, including sports I wouldn't normally experience, like Aikido in physical education, language classes, and a seminar where we built a tracer robot. The ability to choose my department in my second year was very appealing, as it allowed me to take a broad range of classes based on my interests in my first year, not just specialized subjects. When it came to choosing a department, I went straight for the Department of Information and Computer Science without hesitation. While I enjoyed learning the theory, the practical programming classes were tough, and I was on the verge of giving up, thinking, "Maybe I'm not cut out for this." Just then, I encountered an image processing exercise in a lab. I was fascinated by the clarity of the results and the ability to create interactive experiences, which helped me decide which laboratory to join. It was a rare year with many female students, and I'm still close enough with my friends from the department to go out with them. A friend looking back on those days said, "Kazuna, you were really all about the Yagami Festival back then." And it's true (I was moderately dedicated to my studies). I was active for three years on the Yagami Festival Executive Committee as a member of the public relations bureau and the head of decorations. Our main activity was preparing throughout the year for the two-day annual festival, which included weekly meetings and spending the summer vacation at school making decorations. The sense of accomplishment after the festival ended successfully was immense, and it was through the Yagami Festival that I learned the joy of achieving something great with a large group of people. In retrospect, I believe my experience as part of a team managing an organization of over 200 people has been invaluable in my current job, which involves speaking in public and managing projects.

In my fourth year, I was assigned to Professor Hideo Saito's laboratory and began my research on image processing. Later, when a new lab was established, Professor Maki Sugimoto became my academic advisor. I conducted research on AR using Microsoft's Kinect and projectors. The laboratory had many international students, and I had an internationally rich lab life, including a short-term training visit to the University of South Australia, a collaborative research partner. What remains particularly memorable is when our lab members participated in the International collegiate Virtual Reality Contest (IVRC) during my graduate school years. We won numerous awards, including the Grand Prize and the Laval Virtual Award, which included an invitation to exhibit in France. While individual research was the main focus, the experience of the entire lab coming together as a team to create an experience that many people found interesting was something that resonates with my current working style.

After graduation, I joined Microsoft Development Co., Ltd. and was assigned as a Program Manager for the Bing search engine team. During my job search, while I wanted to be involved in development, I questioned my future as "someone writing mediocre code among top coders." It was then that I learned about my current role, which requires engineering knowledge while also thinking about products from a user's perspective. Fortunately, I was approached by a development team and jumped into a team handling a product slightly different from my research. After joining the company, I initially worked on optimizing search results. A while later, a new project was launched to develop an artificial intelligence focused on emotional connections with people rather than task completion. I volunteered for it and am now in charge of a wide range of duties as the PM for "Rinna," an artificial intelligence with the persona of a high school girl, including product development, public relations, and external collaborations. The development of artificial intelligence requires me to fully utilize all of my life experiences. While I feel the difficulty of introducing new technology to the world, I also feel a sense of purpose and immense happiness in my work.

Looking back on my student days, I could never have imagined where I am today. I believe I am who I am now because I trusted my heart at every moment and because of the connections I made with the people I met along the way. A senior in the laboratory once told me, "You're here to learn how to think, not just to learn technology," and that advice is still useful to me today. During your student years, you may sometimes wonder what use something will be in the future. However, by learning the fundamental way of thinking behind it, you broaden your own thought processes, and you may find yourself needing to use that ability when you least expect it. Even the latest artificial intelligence cannot yet accurately predict the future, so trust your heart and forge your own path in life.