Anthropic Japan CEO Explains Enterprise-Focused Strategy: ‘We Won’t Do Image Generation’
As the generative AI boom intensifies, Anthropic has emerged as a notable competitor to OpenAI and Google. However, the head of Anthropic’s Japanese subsidiary offers a strikingly different perspective from the heated feature competition.
A Clear Choice: No Image Generation
In an exclusive interview with Business Insider Japan, Anthropic Japan CEO Hidetoshi Tojo stated clearly: “We won’t do image generation” and “We’re not seeking short-term revenue.” While many AI companies chase consumer attention with multimodal capabilities and flashy demos, Anthropic remains firmly focused on “B2B” and “safety.”
Tojo explained the reasoning behind avoiding image generation:
- Safety and security perspective - “It’s not that we can’t, we choose not to”
- Risk of misuse - Generated images can be difficult to distinguish from human-created ones, potentially causing harm
- Questionable enterprise need - Whether businesses truly need image generation for their operations
A Leader with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and Snowflake Experience
Tojo brings extensive experience from Microsoft, Google Cloud Japan, and Snowflake, where he served as Japan CEO. After six years at Snowflake, he recognized the close relationship between data and AI, leading him to join Anthropic.
He believes that “safe and secure AI” is particularly well-suited for Japanese society and aims to support Japanese enterprises in their AI adoption from a data-centric perspective.
Rapid Growth in the Japanese Market
The establishment of Anthropic Japan and its Tokyo office reflects the company’s rapid growth in the region. Major Japanese enterprises including Rakuten Group, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), and Panasonic have already deployed Claude to improve operational efficiency.
According to Anthropic, annual recurring revenue across the Asia-Pacific region has grown more than 10x in the past year. The company launched its Japanese subsidiary in August 2025 and opened its Tokyo office in October. CEO Dario Amodei met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during his visit and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the AI Safety Institute regarding AI evaluation.
Why Enterprise Focus Makes Sense
Tojo offers an interesting perspective on consumer services. While Anthropic does offer consumer-facing products, most users are actually “individuals within enterprises.” For Claude Code specifically, many users reportedly subscribe to the Max plan individually because “my company won’t pay for it, so I’ll do it myself.”
Building Long-Term Trust
Regarding future strategy, Tojo emphasized that “rather than short-term tactics, we prioritize building long-term trust relationships with Japanese enterprises.”
With Japan’s declining workforce and aging population, companies face increasing pressure to boost productivity. Anthropic positions AI adoption as a breakthrough for the challenge of “producing more with fewer people.”