Perplexity AI, the company behind the AI answer engine "Perplexity," has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with National Health Foundation (NHF), an organization focused on establishing Japan's medical data sovereignty, to jointly develop the country's next-generation medical AI infrastructure[1]. The partnership combines Japan's domestically governed medical LLM with Perplexity's high-accuracy answer technology, aiming to enable medical AI use without sending personal health data outside the country.

Combining a Domestic Medical LLM with Perplexity

Under the agreement, the two parties will jointly work on the design and enhancement of a medical AI foundation within Japan[1]. NHF holds a domestically built medical LLM developed with the support of Japan's Cabinet Office and NEDO, and Perplexity is set to bring its own answer accuracy and usability on top of this base[1].

The framework outlines 7 main areas of cooperation[1]:

  • Design and enhancement of Japan's domestic medical AI foundation
  • Building integration models between the domestic medical LLM and advanced overseas AI
  • Development of services that leverage personal health records (PHR)
  • Implementation of health navigation features for patients
  • Decision-support tools for healthcare professionals
  • Promotion of pilot programs with local governments and hospitals
  • Development of medical AI services with safety, accuracy, and explainability

Against the backdrop of Japan's declining birthrate, aging population, and shortage of medical workers, the partnership reflects a wider trend of industry, government, and academia working together to bring AI-powered clinical support and patient guidance to a practical level[1].

Zero-Retention Approach to Protect Data Sovereignty

Because the partnership handles medical data, the heaviest emphasis is on preserving data sovereignty[1]. NHF positions citizens' health information as a national security asset and intends to keep the core of both the data and the AI foundation under Japan's domestic governance[1].

Perplexity's role here is that of a technical partner that backs this framework. Specifically, the design ensures that Japanese personal data is not sent to Perplexity within NHF's framework, and the data is strictly protected inside a trusted environment in Japan[1]. Perplexity also states that it does not use customer data to train its AI models, and since it is not a company that trains frontier models on its own, it has no incentive to repurpose such data for training[1].

In addition, Perplexity stresses that it enforces a "zero-retention" policy, meaning no customer data is stored on its side[1]. The combination of these properties makes it possible to use overseas frontier AI technology while keeping personal health data under domestic governance — effectively a "use overseas AI while preserving sovereignty" design[1].

Reading the Partnership Through Both CEOs' Statements

Statements from both sides capture the character of the partnership clearly. NHF chairman and CEO Tadahisa Kagimoto described citizens' health information as "a matter of national security itself," highlighting the importance of keeping the core of medical data and the AI foundation managed inside Japan[1]. He framed the alliance as a symbolic effort that brings together a domestic foundation cultivated with support from the Cabinet Office and NEDO and the world's most advanced technology[1].

Perplexity AI Chief Business Officer (CBO) Dmitry Shevelenko described his company's role as "providing trusted access to the world's best AI models in a safe way that does not pass data to the frontier model providers"[1]. By pairing this with the fact that Perplexity does not train frontier models itself and applies a zero-retention policy, the company is signaling a design intended to limit conflict-of-interest risks when handling medical data[1].

Perplexity was founded in 2022 and offers an answer engine that responds with inline source citations, alongside its AI browser "Comet Browser" and the large-scale multi-model orchestration platform "Perplexity Computer"[2]. The company says it now answers more than 1.5 billion questions per month worldwide, making it a heavyweight partner for a Japanese medical AI initiative in terms of both scale and visibility[2].

Summary

Rather than dropping overseas frontier AI directly into Japan's hospitals, the Perplexity–NHF partnership builds it into a governance framework anchored on a domestic medical LLM. If a setup that keeps data inside Japan and bars its use for training while still tapping world-class AI actually starts to operate, the practical menu of medical AI use cases — from patient-facing navigation to decision support for clinicians — should widen noticeably. The first real test will be where the pilot programs with local governments and hospitals begin[1].

Source:https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000024.000157647.html

Source:https://www.perplexity.ai/