Dentsu to Pilot AI Avatar Platform Enabling Students at Yoichi Ochiai Summer School 2026 to Co-Create with AI Models

- Aiming to Realize a Self-Sovereign Information Environment that Empowers Human Creativity and Thought -

Dentsu Group Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & Global CEO: Takeshi Sano; Dentsu Group Inc. and its Group companies are hereinafter collectively referred to as "dentsu") announced that its group-wide R&D organization, Dentsu Innovation Initiative^*1 (hereinafter "DII"), in collaboration with Yoichi Ochiai, will develop and demonstrate an SSIE (Self-Sovereign Information Environment)^*2 that enables students to engage in co-creation with multiple AI systems through AI avatar agents while remaining the primary drivers of creativity and thought. The demonstration project (hereinafter “the Project”) will take place as part of Yoichi Ochiai Summer School 2026, an educational program for elementary and junior high school students to be held in Kagoshima Prefecture from July 24 to July 26, 2026.

From left: AI avatar agent login screen; UI concept of an AI avatar agent that evolves its understanding of students based on photographs they take and conversations they have with the AI agent; UI concept of a viewer application that records and publishes students' video and artistic works in conjunction with geospatial information; detailed map.

* Images are under development and may differ from the final specifications.

As generative AI continues to improve the efficiency of creative activities and learning, it is becoming increasingly important to preserve and advance processes that encourage individuals to formulate their own questions and deepen their thinking. Through the Project, students will work alongside multiple AI systems via personalized AI avatar agents that deeply understand them as individuals. Students will engage in questioning, thinking, and assigning meaning for themselves while creating artwork in collaboration with AI. The Project will explore the potential of a novel information environment capable of supporting such activities. Rather than pursuing efficiency through AI alone, the initiative aims to realize a next-generation learning environment that empowers human creativity and independent thought.

Since 2018, DII has worked with Yoichi Ochiai Summer School to provide children opportunities to experience advanced information environments. At “Yoichi Ochiai Summer School 2025”, DII conducted an SSIE-based demonstration in which each student was provided with a personal AI avatar to deepen self-understanding. Through ongoing dialogue with AI avatars and a mechanism for recording learning relationships as NFTs, the initiative explored the potential of Web3 technologies in educational settings^*3.

Building on these accomplishments, this year's Project has upgraded the AI avatars from simple conversational partners into agents that connect students with multiple AI systems. Instead of directly selecting and managing different AI tools, students can consult their personal AI avatar agents regarding their interests, concerns, ideas, and even feelings not yet fully expressed in words. Based on these interactions, the AI avatar agent bridges students to the most appropriate AI systems by considering each of their interests, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as their previous conversations.
Within this environment, students remain the primary actors in creation and reflection, while AI systems take on supporting roles such as organizing information and assisting production. By clearly separating these roles, students can focus on the fundamental questions such as what they want to think about or express, or what topics they want to continue exploring, without being distracted by multiple AI tools.

The Project does not aim to create an environment where AI instantly provides answers. Instead, based on Yoichi Ochiai's concept of “Digital Fermentation^*4,” it will test a co-creative process in which students actively interpret, select, and assign meaning to unexpected expressions and questions that emerge through interactions with AI. The initiative aims to explore new forms of learning in which people continue to cultivate knowledge while creating.
Specifically, the Project will explore new possibilities for applying Web3 technologies to creative and reflective learning through the following four areas:

1. Co-creation with Multiple AI Systems through an AI Avatar Agent (First Demonstration)
Verification of an interface in which an AI avatar agent that deeply understands the individual mediates interactions between students and multiple AI systems.

2. Combining Identity Continuity and Separation of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Based on SSIE
Verification of a mechanism that enables deep interaction with AI avatar agents while preventing direct disclosure of PII when accessing external AI services.

3. Recording Experiences and Relationships through Friendship NFTs and Graduation Certificate NFTs
Verification of a framework for recording experiences and relationships formed during the Summer School as NFTs and preserving them in a form that can be referenced in the future.

4. Continuing Connections through a Web3 Personal Page, Business Cards, and IC Cards
Verification of a system that enables students to continue exploration and interaction after the Summer School through QR-code-enabled business cards connected to a Web3 personal page and a hardware wallet supported by Sony Corporation.

The role of the SSIE, which serves as the foundation of the Project, extends beyond simple anonymization. It is designed to create an information environment where individuals can safely share their interests, concerns, and even feelings that they cannot yet fully articulate with trusted entities.
Students will be able to engage in deep conversations, including private topics, with trusted AI avatar agents. Through these dialogues, the AI avatar agents will develop an understanding of each student's perspectives and sensibilities and provide personalized support. At the same time, when utilizing external AI services, they will request only the necessary tasks without directly sharing the student's personally identifiable information (PII). SSIE provides a foundation for accessing advanced AI environments while maintaining personal privacy in the AI era.

Through the Project, DII expects AI avatar agents to evolve into entities that better understand each individual through ongoing dialogue while supporting creativity and reflection. In addition, by leveraging Friendship NFTs and Graduation Certificate NFTs, DII aims to build an information environment that connects experiences and relationships formed during the Summer School to future exploration and collaboration.
Looking ahead, DII envisions creating spaces where students can generate new opportunities for learning and cooperation in digital environments. At the same time, it will continue to emphasize self-sovereign design principles that respect individual intentions and privacy while enabling users to control the scope of information they choose to disclose.

The Project is not intended to create a future in which AI thinks on behalf of people. Rather, DII will use the Project to explore how self-sovereign information environments can ensure that individuals remain the primary agents of creativity and reflection in the AI era. By connecting learning processes, creative activities, and the relationships that emerge from them to lasting social value, DII aims to nurture the potential of future generations and contribute to a sustainable society in which people and technology co-create value.

*1: Dentsu Innovation Initiative (DII) is an internal organization responsible for driving R&D across the entire dentsu. In addition, DII has established “web3 club™,” a group-wide organization dedicated to researching and implementing new businesses in the Web3 domain, in collaboration with Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Research Institute, Inc., and Septeni Incubate Inc. For further information on the launch of “web3 club™,” please refer to the following news release.
“Dentsu Japan Network Launches the web3 club™, an Organization Supporting Web3-Related Businesses Across the Group” (News Release from Dentsu Group Inc., September 8, 2022)
https://www.group.dentsu.com/en/news/release/000805.html

*2: Self-Sovereign Information Environment (SSIE) is a decentralized framework proposed by DII and Panasonic Holdings Corporation, among others, that enables individuals to manage their own data and digital identities while securely sharing only the information they choose to disclose. For more information, please refer to the following news release.
“Dentsu Group and Panasonic Holdings to Present Research on ‘SSIE (Self-Sovereign Information Environment)’ at International Conference” (News Release from Dentsu Group Inc., December 12, 2025)
https://www.group.dentsu.com/en/news/release/001581.html

*3: For information on last year's initiative and previous activities, please refer to the following news release and website.
“Dentsu Group, Panasonic Holdings and Partners Develop a Self-Sovereign Information Environment for AI Avatar-Based Learning” (News Release from Dentsu Group Inc., July 30, 2025, Japanese only)
https://www.group.dentsu.com/jp/news/release/001518.html
“Table Unstable” YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@TableUnstable

*4: Fermentation is the practice of guiding transformation by understanding and working with ingredients, environments, time, temperature, and the activity of microorganisms, rather than attempting to control every aspect of the process. Digital Fermentation is a concept proposed by Yoichi Ochiai that extends this way of thinking into what he describes as computational nature. Within a world where the boundaries between the artificial and the natural, and between matter and information, are increasingly dissolving, participating students will develop creative expressions together with AI avatar agents that can infer, understand, and engage with their individual worldviews.

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Inquiries Regarding This R&D Activity:
Junichi Suzuki
Dentsu Innovation Initiative, Dentsu Group Inc.
URL: https://en.innovation.dentsu.com/
Email: innovation-initiative@dentsu.co.jp

Inquiries Regarding This Release:
Jumpei Kojima, Akiko Shimadzu, Emi Harada
Group Corporate Communications Office, Dentsu Group Inc.
Email: group-cc@dentsu.com