Polimill QommonsAI: Building Japan's Public AI Infrastructure
Polimill has launched QommonsAI, a generative AI platform designed to serve as a "public OS" for municipal government work in Japan. By leveraging OpenAI technology, the platform enables 1,050 municipalities and approximately 550,000 public employees to automate administrative workflows and access a standardized, cross-municipality knowledge base.
Standardizing Fragmented Municipal Data
QommonsAI solves the problem of fragmented administrative data by collecting and standardizing assembly minutes and records from across Japan. Because each municipality historically maintained its own document formats and workflows, preparing tasks such as assembly responses often required manual reviews of years of records to ensure policy consistency.
Polimill used AI to add metadata to these records and build a high-precision search foundation. This structure has been expanded beyond assembly minutes into social welfare, legal search, and other administrative domains, turning distributed information into a searchable, unified knowledge base available through a common interface.
Integration of OpenAI Technology and Security
GPT models serve as the core of QommonsAI, providing the general conversation and reasoning capabilities required for daily municipal tasks. Polimill selected GPT models for two primary reasons:
- Adoption and Familiarity: The widespread awareness of ChatGPT lowers the barrier to entry for public employees who may not be familiar with technical AI terminology.
- Reliability: GPT's ability to handle a wide range of requests—from file reading to daily dialogue—within a single model makes it the most frequently selected option for general work in QommonsAI.
To meet government-grade security requirements, the platform includes operational controls that allow administrators to review usage history and restrict model availability based on organizational policy to ensure audit readiness and information management.
Accelerating Development with Codex and OpenAI Support
Polimill reports a 3-5x increase in development speed by integrating OpenAI's Codex into its entire workflow, from requirements definition and implementation to testing and GitHub code consistency checks. This acceleration allows engineers to focus on high-level decision-making while AI handles autonomous implementation.
Beyond the API, Polimill utilizes hands-on support from OpenAI to incorporate global best practices and design AI-driven development processes. This collaboration helps Polimill maintain its engineering organization's capabilities as models and development methods evolve.
Impact on Administrative Quality and Knowledge Transfer
QommonsAI has demonstrated the ability to bridge the gap between junior and senior officials. In validation tests, less-experienced employees using the AI and accumulated administrative data produced policy proposals with quality levels approaching those of veteran officials.
However, Polimill notes that veteran officials still produce the highest quality work due to "tacit knowledge"—practical judgment and resident concerns not captured in manuals. Polimill intends to use QommonsAI to record how veteran officials interact with and refine AI outputs, effectively documenting this undocumented judgment to facilitate knowledge transfer to the next generation of public servants.
Future Roadmap: Qommons ONE and Super Agents
In fall 2026, Polimill plans to launch Qommons ONE, an application store for municipalities where external companies can provide specialized apps. The centerpiece of this ecosystem will be a "super agent" capable of orchestrating multiple specialized AI systems and private-sector applications.
This super agent will allow users to define a goal, and the system will autonomously call the necessary tools to produce deliverables ranging from research to final presentations. Polimill is utilizing OpenAI's agent development know-how and technical validation to build this infrastructure.