Institute of Language Understanding Inc.

Institute of Language Understanding Inc. (ILU) is a Japanese artificial intelligence company headquartered in Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture. It was founded in January 2002 as a venture originating from Tokushima University, building on research into natural language understanding begun by founder Jun'ichi Aoe at the university in 1983. The company's core competence is natural language processing (NLP) specialized for the Japanese language, an area it has pursued for more than four decades. ILU provides AI solutions intended for practical business use. Its service lines include AI consulting and proof-of-concept (PoC) projects, custom AI engine development, and data structuring. It offers a solution branded "AX-laei," and its proprietary NLP technology addresses needs such as dialogue understanding, document generation and summarization, and machine translation. The company emphasizes a hybrid approach that combines machine-learning methods with its own linguistic knowledge and rule-based engineering, which it says improves performance. A central asset is ILU's large-scale language database, described as one of the largest in Japan and accumulated continuously over more than 40 years. This resource is used to structure Japanese documents—often considered difficult for AI to handle—into forms that AI can process. ILU also stresses high quality and precision through customized development, with NLP professionals building rules and performing manual work where necessary, followed by repeated tuning and improvement. The company is based at 1-32-1 Nakajōzanjimachi, Tokushima City. Its honorary chairman is Jun'ichi Aoe, professor emeritus of Tokushima University. The representative director and president is Masanori Kashiji, with Ryūhei Nitta as representative director and vice president and Yōichi Tanaka as director. Capital is 58 million yen. As of July 2026, the shareholder is Sansan, Inc., making ILU part of the Sansan Group; ILU states that it promotes human rights initiatives as a member of that group. The company has received recognition including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) award at the 9th Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Meritorious Achievement Awards, and a gold prize in the original content category at the 1st Anime Monozukuri Awards for the interactive AI service "Doguzeri Shōjo: Motoko," co-developed with Sony Music Entertainment. It also received a special jury prize at the 38th "UPGRADE with TOKYO." ILU continues to develop generative-AI-related offerings for industry, including a service for manufacturing sites announced in 2026, and exhibits at events such as Factory Innovation Week and Monozukuri World Tokyo. The company describes itself as entering a second founding phase, aiming to combine its long-accumulated technology and experience with advanced, high-quality development.

The origins of the Institute of Language Understanding (ILU) lie in academic research. In March 1983, Jun'ichi Aoe began research on natural language understanding at Tokushima University. In October 1988, Aoe devised the "double-array method," which achieved the high speed and compactness that had been challenges in natural language processing. In April 1994, an early semantic-analysis-type morphological analysis engine was developed and adopted as an analysis foundation. In April 1996, research and development began on machine learning of knowledge information. In July 1997, a "multi-attribute matching engine" capable of processing multiple attributes such as concepts and words was announced. On the strength of this research, ILU was established in January 2002 as a venture originating from Tokushima University. The company states that its language knowledge construction, continued for more than 40 years including the university period, has led to its solutions being adopted by many companies in Japan and overseas. In September 2008, ILU began providing an intention-understanding-type casual dialogue AI. In September 2011, it received the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) award at the 9th Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Meritorious Achievement Awards for the development, in cooperation with Tokushima University, of an "artificial brain engine that understands human feelings and intentions." In November 2011, it launched the text-mining service "AB Square." In November 2014, Nikkei Digital Media, Inc. acquired shares in ILU and invested in the company; this position was inherited when Nikkei Inc. absorbed the company through a merger in July 2015. In February 2015, the company began offering document generation and related services. ILU also gained recognition for the interactive AI service "Doguzeri Shōjo: Motoko," co-developed with Sony Music Entertainment, which won the gold prize in the original content category at the 1st Anime Monozukuri Awards. It received a special jury prize at the 38th "UPGRADE with TOKYO." As of July 2026, Sansan, Inc. is the shareholder, and ILU operates as part of the Sansan Group, adopting a human rights policy as a group member. The company has continued to develop generative-AI-related offerings, announcing in July 2026 the launch of "Manufacturing-Site Knowledge AI," a generative AI utilization service for the manufacturing industry, and exhibiting at events such as Factory Innovation Week and Monozukuri World Tokyo. ILU describes itself as entering a second founding phase, aiming to leverage more than 40 years of technology and experience while providing advanced, high-quality technology trusted by customers.

• Founder Jun'ichi Aoe begins research on natural language understanding at Tokushima University.

• Aoe devises the 'double-array method' achieving high speed and compactness in natural language processing.

• Development of an early semantic-analysis-type morphological analysis engine, adopted as an analysis foundation.

• Research and development begins on machine learning of knowledge information.

• Announcement of a 'multi-attribute matching engine' capable of processing multiple attributes such as concepts and words.

• Institute of Language Understanding Inc. (ILU) established as a Tokushima University-originated venture.

• Begins providing an intention-understanding-type casual dialogue AI.

• Receives the MEXT award at the 9th Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Meritorious Achievement Awards.

• Launches the text-mining service 'AB Square'.

• Nikkei Digital Media, Inc. acquires shares in ILU and invests in the company.

• Begins offering document generation and related services.

• Nikkei Inc. absorbs Nikkei Digital Media by merger, inheriting the shareholding position.

• Sansan, Inc. is the shareholder; ILU operates as part of the Sansan Group.

• Launches 'Manufacturing-Site Knowledge AI,' a generative AI utilization service for the manufacturing industry.

A Tokushima University-originated AI venture specializing in Japanese-language natural language processing, combining a large proprietary language database and long-cultivated NLP technology with machine learning for high-precision, customized business solutions.

• AX-laei

  A solution offered by ILU.

• Customized AI engine development

  Custom AI engines tailored to client requirements, using proprietary NLP technology.

• Data structuring

  Structuring Japanese documents into AI-processable forms using ILU's large-scale language database.

• AI consulting / PoC

  Consulting and proof-of-concept services for practical AI deployment.

• Manufacturing-Site Knowledge AI

  A generative AI utilization service for the manufacturing industry, launched July 2026.

1. 1ILU 株式会社言語理解研究所ilu.co.jp
2. 2会社情報 | ILU 株式会社言語理解研究所ilu.co.jp
3. 3Institute Of Language Understanding Inc. (Japan) - Wikidatawikidata.org