Japanese local media firm Chiiki Shimbun wins patent on generative‑AI “psychological digital twin” ad‑targeting tech, stock hits limit up

Summary

Chiba‑based publisher Chiiki Shimbun announced it has secured a Japanese patent for an information‑processing system that uses generative AI to build a “psychological state digital twin” of users, combining persona data with real‑time behavior to time ads and other interventions for maximum effect. ([prtimes.jp](https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000074.000087661.html)) The company says the system can fuse text, image and audio signals, apply causal‑inference techniques rather than simple correlation, and then let multi‑agent AI models continuously optimize when and how to intervene across e‑commerce, subscriptions, retail and even education or finance. ([prtimes.jp](https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000074.000087661.html)) Chiiki Shimbun has also filed an international PCT application, signaling ambitions to license the technology globally rather than keep it as an in‑house tool. ([prtimes.jp](https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000074.000087661.html)) Tokyo markets reacted immediately: the stock went “S‑high” (limit up) to ¥330 after Kabutan reported the patent news, as traders piled into a tiny local‑media name suddenly being re‑rated as an AI play. ([kabutan.jp](https://kabutan.jp/news/marketnews/?b=n202512150296)) Strategically, the patent underscores how even relatively small regional media firms are trying to turn proprietary data and narrowly focused AI into licensable IP, but it will also raise fresh questions about psychological profiling, consent and AI‑driven manipulation in advertising.