NEW YORK, March 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (TSE:4812) ("ISID") and UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158) ("UBIC"), a leading provider of international litigation support and big-data analysis services, announced today that they have started co-development of a new digital curation1 service, which analyzes a massive pool of information over the Internet and makes tailored recommendations through the use of UBIC's artificial intelligence (AI)-based Predictive Coding and related technologies2.
The Internet offers an abundance of information regarding a great variety of categories, which influence people as they shop online. Online ranking data and forums are two forms of this data that have traditionally carried a large impact. However, online ranking data are prone to bias based on the number and attributes (age group, gender, etc.) of evaluators and analyzing forums can be a daunting task due to the sheer volume and wide variety of comments. Recently, in order to recommend suitable items to users with more precision, many site operators have been classifying people by shopping and other behavior patterns and providing services using collaborative filtering3, a technique used to make personalized recommendations based on comparison and analogical reasoning.
The new service under co-development by ISID and UBIC aims to increase the precision of the recommendation function based on AI-based analysis of information over the Internet including online forums and social media, rather than data on rating systems, shopping activity or other behavior patterns. For example, when online shoppers explore potential book purchases, the AI system can use a user-provided selection of their favorite books to analyze the massive amount of Internet data in the form of book reviews and comments and recommend books that are presumed to suit their preferences. In addition, analyzing the same data, the new service may make personalized recommendations in other categories, such as travel accommodations.
This service has broad applicability across many categories. ISID and UBIC have already verified the effectiveness of the service through testing a prototype. In addition, they have jointly filed a patent application in Japan for a business model on which this service will be based. ISID and UBIC aim for commercial launch of the service by the end of 2015 while maintaining coordination with Dentsu Inc.'s digital marketing-related businesses.
Although efforts to put AI into practice are ongoing in various fields, including legal affairs and healthcare, most AI technologies are still in the research, development or experimentation stages, with few cases of successful application to business achieved so far. Based on its proprietary AI-based Predictive Coding technology, UBIC has been doing business both inside and outside Japan in such fields as e-discovery support, which is essential to international litigation cases, and detection of inappropriate acts conducted by company employees. In the application of AI to business, UBIC has made outstanding achievements that set it apart from other companies. Meanwhile, ISID, an IT company under the Dentsu Group, has accumulated an abundance of knowhow in the field of marketing by building many large-scale Customer Relationship Management ("CRM") systems and campaign management systems, and by developing and providing unique marketing platforms. The two companies aim to develop a new digital marketing business using AI by co-developing this service based on their respective strengths.
1 Curation refers to collecting information and contents and giving them new values by sorting them for provision. For example, a person responsible for collecting and arranging works of art and other items for museum exhibitions based on specific themes is called a curator. Internet sites that provide sets of information and contents in specific categories are called curation services.
2 Predictive Coding is UBIC's proprietary technology that automatically analyzes documents by using text mining and AI technologies. It applies predisposed classifications ("relevant," "favorite," etc.) to a very limited part of a certain set of comments, and then the classification automatically extends to the whole set of comments, leading to automatic classification of a vast volume of data. The processing speed is more than 4,000 times as fast as that of human processing and the accuracy rate of judgment is higher than 90%. UBIC's Predictive Coding is adaptable to Japanese and other multi-byte Asian languages. UBIC has already obtained Japanese patents related to Predictive Coding.
3 Collaborative filtering refers to a technique used by e-commerce and other sites to analyze similarities in behavior patterns between users and correlation between products in terms of collocation based on data concerning users' online shopping behavior, correlate individual users' records of behavior and automatically make personalized recommendations.
About Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (ISID)
Since its establishment in 1975, ISID has provided comprehensive services as a business partner for its clients, from consulting services to system planning, design, development, operations and maintenance support. ISID aims to be an "IT Solution Innovator" and is proactively developing business operations in a wide range of fields, including solutions for financial institutions, product development solutions, group management and consolidated accounting, human resource management (personnel, payment and performance management), ERP, marketing, and cloud-based services.
For more information about ISID, contact g-pr@isid.co.jp or visit http://www.isid.co.jp/english/.
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.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the amount of data that UBIC expects to manage this year and the potential uses for UBIC's new service in intellectual property-related litigation, contain forward-looking statements. UBIC may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about UBIC's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: UBIC's goals and strategies; UBIC's expansion plans; the expected growth of the data center services market; expectations regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, UBIC's services; UBIC's expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with customers; UBIC's plans to invest in research and development to enhance its solution and service offerings; and general economic and business conditions in the regions where UBIC provides solutions and services. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in UBIC's reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. UBIC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and UBIC undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.