OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said on Monday he is considering opening an office and expanding services in Japan after a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kishida and Altman exchanged views on the technological progress and merits of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as its risks including privacy and copyright infringement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Japan will evaluate the possibility of introducing AI-powered technology such as OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, as it examines the benefits and risks, Matsuno added.

Privacy concerns have been raised over ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, prompting Italy to temporarily ban the chatbot.

Matsuno told reporters in a briefing Japan would consider government adoption of AI technology, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, if privacy and cybersecurity concerns were resolved.

Following Italy's restriction of ChatGPT, which inspired other European countries to study such measures, OpenAI last week presented measures to remedy privacy breach concerns to the Italian regulator.

Japan will continue evaluating possibilities of introducing AI to reduce government workers' workload after assessing how to respond to concerns such as data breaches, Matsuno said.

(With input from Reuters)