University of Tokyo's Matsuo Lab Spinout 'Third Intelligence' Launches - Aiming for a Third Intelligence Beyond Humans and Conventional AI

A new AI company, Third Intelligence Inc., spun out from the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Laboratory, was announced to have been established on March 27, 2025¹. The company advocates for creating “a third intelligence that is neither the human brain nor conventional AI” and aims to realize AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).

The company has a capital of 10 million yen with headquarters in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. Professor Yutaka Matsuo from the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo has been appointed as Chief Scientist, and Junya Ishibashi as CEO¹. The Matsuo Laboratory has a track record of producing numerous spinout companies and continues cutting-edge research in deep learning and large-scale data analysis³.

The Vision of “Third Intelligence”

The “Third Intelligence” advocated by Third Intelligence represents a new form of intelligence that transcends the limitations of human intelligence and conventional AI systems². The company aims to develop “AI that thinks, converses, acts, and grows like humans,” suggesting a fundamentally different approach from current LLMs and multimodal AI.

While current AI systems are “Narrow AI” specialized for specific tasks, the AGI that Third Intelligence aims for would be a general-purpose intelligence system capable of learning and executing a wide range of tasks like humans. In this field, companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind from the US, and Baidu and Alibaba from China are engaged in fierce competition.

The AI Research Foundation of Matsuo Laboratory

The Matsuo Laboratory, which forms the technical foundation of Third Intelligence, conducts research in four key areas: world models, robotics, large language models, and brain-AI research³. World model research, in particular, plays an important role in improving AI’s ability to understand and predict the external world and is considered one of the key technologies for realizing AGI.

The laboratory has two missions: “Creating Intelligence” and “Nurturing Pioneers,” and has been building an ecosystem that links cutting-edge research, high-quality education, social implementation, and technology incubation³. It has supported numerous student entrepreneurs and promoted the social implementation of research outcomes through industry-academia collaborative research.

Entering Global Competition

The company has clearly positioned itself as a “third pole countering the US and China,” aiming for new AI development unconstrained by existing systems¹. In the current AGI race, while OpenAI’s GPT series, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude are leading, there is a possibility that Third Intelligence is aiming for a breakthrough with a different approach.

Third Intelligence plans to actively acquire international talent and establish research and development environments that meet international standards¹, emphasizing competitiveness in the global market. As a Japanese AI company, balancing unique technology development with international expansion will likely be a challenge.

Significance in Japan’s AGI Development

The birth of an AGI development company in Japan holds significant meaning from the perspective of strengthening international competitiveness in the AI field. Currently, AGI development is mainly led by US companies, and the emergence of general-purpose AI technology from Japan is considered to contribute to ensuring technological diversity.

With the strong academic foundation of the Matsuo Laboratory, Third Intelligence’s technical approach to achieving AGI is attracting attention from the entire industry. The company’s future technology announcements and research results will likely serve as important indicators of the direction of AI research in Japan.

The company started with 11-50 employees and is actively recruiting AI researchers and engineers⁴. With Junya Ishibashi, former Pairs CEO and Match Group East Asia GM, appointed as CEO, experience in both technology development and business expansion is brought together.