UBIC and Samurai Incubate Sponsor AI Hackathon for Young Engineers


NEW YORK, May 28, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158) ("UBIC" or "the Company"), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-based big-data analysis services, together with Samurai Incubate Inc., co-hosted a business competition event called the "AI Hackathon" on May 23 and 24, 2015. In this event, participants — mainly young engineers — competed to propose ideas for the application of artificial intelligence in a business context and to create sophisticated AI-based software programs.

The theme of this Hackathon was "resolving business challenges through the use of AI." As the practical application of AI to business is still in its early stages, there remains tremendous untapped potential in terms of how AI can be applied to address challenges in the business world. Attracted by the novelty of this theme as well as the opportunity to learn more about AI technology, a large number of people, particularly young engineers, applied to join this event.

The 50 participants who were accepted into the competition were divided into 10 teams, each competing to propose unique ideas for using AI to resolve business challenges and develop sophisticated software programs. During the competition, the teams received advice from two mentors: Yutaka Matsuo, Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo, and Yuichiro Masui, Chief Technology Officer at Toreta, Inc.

The grand prize was awarded to Team "Humorous", the members of which were Mr. Mukaiyama, Mr. Sato, Mr. Yoshioka, Mr. Kurisu, and Mr. Omatty. Team Humorous aimed to develop a service to optimize communication between men and women, by employing AI scoring capabilities. Their software program drew high praise in response to its realistic issue settings, attractive service planning, and professional engineering mindset of early API trial and error.

Dr. Yutaka Matsuo, Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering, stated, "The hackathon witnessed many insightful presentations in terms of machine learning and AI deployment. This event helped me recognize the great potential for big data and machine learning to be applied to business scenarios and I am confident that many other observers and participants walked away with a similar feeling."

Mr. Yuichiro Masui, Chief Technology Officer at Toreta, Inc, stated, "We have seen new technologies transform our lives in every decade from the Internet, to smartphones, and now artificial intelligence. AI has the potential to be the next big thing that may change our lives by introducing products and services which we have never seen before. I hope some of the hackathon's participants continue to explore developing AI applications and introducing exciting AI-powered innovations."

UBIC will continue to contribute to resolving business challenges through the use of AI technology by sponsoring events similar to the AI Hackathon.

About UBIC, Inc.

UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158) supports the analysis of big data based on behavior informatics by utilizing its proprietary AI-based software program, "VIRTUAL DATA SCIENTIST" or VDS. Developed by UBIC based on knowledge acquired through its litigation support services, the VDS program incorporates experts' tacit knowledge, including their experiences and intuitions, and utilizes that knowledge for big data analysis. UBIC continues to expand its business operations by applying VDS to new fields such as healthcare and marketing.

UBIC was founded in 2003 as a provider of e-discovery and international litigation support services. These services include the preservation, investigation and analysis of evidence materials contained in electronic data, and computer forensic investigation. UBIC provides e-discovery and litigation support by making full use of its data analysis platform, "Lit i View®", and its Predictive Coding technology adapted to Asian languages.

For more information about UBIC, contact u-contact@ubic.co.jp or visit http://www.ubicna.com.

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