Joichi "Joi" Ito (伊藤 穰一, Itō Jōichi, born June 19, 1966) is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the President of Chiba Institute of Technology.[1][2][3] He is a former director of the MIT Media Lab, former professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT, and a former visiting professor of practice at Harvard Law School.[4][5] Ito has received recognition for his role as an entrepreneur focused on Internet and technology companies and has founded, among other companies, PSINet Japan, Digital Garage, and Infoseek Japan. Ito is general partner of Neoteny Labs,[6] and former board member of Creative Commons (where he served as CEO), The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The New York Times Company, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Mozilla Foundation, The Open Source Initiative, and Sony Corporation.[7] Ito wrote[8] a monthly column in the Ideas section of Wired.[9]
Ito was born in Kyoto, Japan. His family moved to Canada and then to the United States, when Ito was about three, to a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where his father became a research scientist[12] and his mother a secretary for Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., now Ovonics. The founder of his mother's company, Stanford R. Ovshinsky, was impressed with young Ito, whom he thought of almost as his son. Ovshinsky mentored the boy's interests in technology and social movements, and when Ito was 13, gave him work with scientists, saying, "He was not a child in the conventional sense."[13]
Ito and his sister Mizuko Ito, called Mimi, spent summers in Japan with their grandmother, who taught them about traditional Japanese culture.[14] At age 14, he returned to Japan, when his mother was promoted to president of Energy Conversion Devices Japan. He studied at the Nishimachi International School[15] and, for high school, the American School in JapaninTokyo.[16] In that phase of his life, Ito also learned "street language, street smarts, and computers." One of the few Japanese using modems before networking deregulation reached Japan, in 1985, Ito had found The Source and the original MUD by his teens (and by 26, was working on his own MUD).[14]
Ito returned to the United States to attend Tufts University as a computer science major, where he met, among others, Pierre Omidyar, later founder of eBay.[17] As he deemed his course work too rigid and believed that learning computer science in school was "stupid",[17] Ito dropped out of Tufts to work briefly for Ovonics. Ovshinsky encouraged him to return to school. Ito enrolled at the University of Chicagoinphysics but later dropped out as the program was overly oriented towards producing practical engineers rather than teaching an intuitive understanding of physics.[13] In the fall of 1985, Ito became the first student to register for a pioneering program of online courses, offered by Connected Education, Inc., for undergraduate credit from The New School for Social Research. Ito also attended Hitotsubashi University, according to his essay in Japanese.[18]
From Keio University, Ito earned a PhD in Media and Governance in 2018.[19] His dissertation was titled The Practice of Change.[20]
Ito became a disc jockey working in nightclubs in Chicago such as the Limelight and Smart Bar, also working with Metasystems Design Group to start a virtual community in Tokyo.[14] Later, Ito ran a nightclub in Roppongi, Japan, called XY Relax, with help from Joe Shanahan of Metro Chicago/Smart Bar. He helped bring industrial music from Chicago (Wax Trax) and later the rave scene, managing a DJ team and visual artists, including importing Anarchic Adjustment to Japan.[citation needed]
Ito was the Chairman of Creative Commons from December 2006 until 2012. He is[when?] on the board of Digital Garage,[23] Culture Convenience Club (CCC),[24]Tucows,[25] and EPIC,[26] and is on the advisory boards of Creative Commons and WITNESS. He is the founder and CEO of the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd. In October 2004, he was named to the board of ICANN for a three-year term starting December 2004. In August 2005, he joined the board of the Mozilla Foundation[27] and served until April 2016. He served on the board of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) from March 2005 until April 2007. He was a founding board member of Expression College for Digital Arts[28] as well as the Zero One Art and Technology Network.[29] In 1999, he served as the Associate to Mr. Mount (the executive producer) on the film The Indian Runner.[30] Ito also served as a board member of Energy Conversion Devices from 1995 to 2000.[citation needed]
Ito was listed by Time magazine as a member of the "Cyber-Elite" in 1997. He was also named one of the 50 "Stars of Asia" in the "Entrepreneurs and Dealmakers" category by BusinessWeek[52] and commended by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for supporting the advancement of IT in 2000.[53] He was selected by the World Economic Forum in 2001 as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow"[54] and chosen by Newsweek as a member of the "Leaders of The Pack (high technology industry)" in 2005,[55] and listed by Vanity Fair as a member of "The Next Establishment" in the October Issue, 2007[56] and 2011.[57] Ito was named by BusinessWeek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web in 2008.[58] On July 22, 2011 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his role as one of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom from the University of Oxford Internet Institute.[59] In 2011, with Ethan Zuckerman, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers, in which he stated the Best idea is "Users controlling their own data".[60] Ito received the degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, from The New School in 2013.[61] On March 11, 2014, Ito was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame.[62] He was a TED speaker at the March 21, TED2014.[63] In 2014, Ito was awarded the Golden Plate Award by the Academy of Achievement.[64][65] On May 17, 2015 Ito received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Tufts University.[66] Ito was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in April 2017.[67] On May 11, 2017 Ito was awarded the IRI Medal.[68]
In April 2011, Ito was named the director of the MIT Media Lab; he began in this role on September 1, 2011.[69][70] His appointment was called an "unusual choice" since Ito studied at two colleges, but did not finish his degrees. "The choice is radical, but brilliant," said Larry Smarr, director of Calit2.[71]Nicholas Negroponte, Media Lab's co-founder and chairman emeritus, described the choice as bringing the media to "Joi's world".[72] In an interview with Asian Scientist Magazine, Ito discussed his vision for the MIT Media Lab, and how he liked the word "learning" better than the word "education".[73] He was appointed professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT in 2016.[74]
As of 2023, Ito is a member of the "Council on Extended Intelligence", an initiative focused the ethics and governance of Artificial Intelligence, launched in 2018 by the MIT Media Lab and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).[75][76]
In August 2021, Ito was appointed as the Digital Auditor, the top administrative official of Japan's Digital Agency. However, many people raised concerns about his appointment, because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. In September, after the Digital Agency was established, Ito was appointed as one of the members of the Digital Society Initiative Council, a panel of experts.[citation needed]
In 2019, revelations of Ito's connections with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, shed light on the extent of Epstein's monetary gifts to the Media Lab and to Ito's startups outside of MIT. Ito initially wrote an apology but refused to resign,[77] which led to the departure of several prominent Media Lab members, including Ethan Zuckerman,[78] director of the MIT's Center for Civic Media, and Media Lab visiting scholar J. Nathan Matias.[79] Calls for Ito to resign were followed by a website (wesupportjoi.org) and letter in support of Ito which appeared in late August signed by more than 100 people including Lawrence Lessig, Hiroshi Ishii, Stewart Brand, Nicholas Negroponte, Jonathan Zittrain, and George M. Church.[80][81] However, the website was taken down after further details emerged. Ito later admitted to taking $525,000 in funding from Epstein for the lab, and permitting Epstein to invest $1.2 million in Ito's personal investment funds.[82][83]
On September 6, 2019, an article by Ronan FarrowinThe New Yorker alleged that the lab led by Ito had "a deeper fund-raising relationship with Epstein" than it had acknowledged, and that the lab attempted to conceal the extent of its contacts with him.[84] The article, based on leaked emails between Epstein, Ito and others, alleged that "Ito and other lab employees took numerous steps to keep Epstein's name from being associated with the donations he made or solicited," and that Ito specifically solicited individual donations from Epstein.[84] The article further claimed that Epstein "appeared to serve as an intermediary between the lab and other wealthy donors, soliciting millions of dollars in donations from individuals and organizations" and that "Epstein was credited with securing at least $7.5 million in donations for the lab."[84] Ito, in an email to The New York Times, said The New Yorker report was "full of factual errors."[5] According to Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig the anonymity of the Jeffrey Epstein donations was to avoid "whitewashing" Epstein's reputation and not to conceal the relationship between Ito and Epstein.[85]
The president of MIT requested an "immediate, thorough and independent" investigation into the "extremely serious" and "deeply disturbing allegations about the engagement between individuals at the Media Lab and Jeffrey Epstein."[86]
In September 2019, Ito resigned as director of the Media Lab and as an MIT professor shortly after The New Yorker article.[5] He also resigned from his visiting professorship at Harvard University.[5] in addition he relinquished a number of other roles on September 7 amid the controversy:
Ito left the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.[87] The MacArthur Foundation wrote, "the recent reports of Ito's behavior in The New Yorker, if true, would not be in keeping with the values of MacArthur. Most importantly, our hearts go out to the girls and women who survived the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein."[88]
He resigned from the board of The New York Times Company[89] following the Epstein revelations. The New York Times said "Our newsroom will continue its aggressive reporting on Mr. Epstein, investigating both the individuals and the broader systems of power that enabled him for so many years."[90][91]
Ito resigned from the board of trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who wrote, "Jeffrey Epstein's crimes continue to reverberate, most painfully with the girls and women who were his victims. We extend our deepest sympathies to them."[10]
He resigned as the chairman of PureTech Health. The company said that "given circumstances related to the MIT Media Lab, we agreed that Joi's resignation from PureTech was appropriate."[11]
On January 10, 2020, MIT released results of its fact-finding on engagements with Jeffrey Epstein.[92]
The investigation was conducted by Goodwin Procter LLP whose partners were retained to "conduct investigation into both Epstein's donations and Epstein's other interactions with MIT."
The MIT Report[93] found that "donations to MIT were driven either by former Media Lab Director Joi Ito or by Seth Lloyd, a professor of mechanical engineering and physics, not by MIT's central administration." However, the report also states that certain members of MIT's Senior Team "were aware of, and approved, Epstein's donations to support Ito and the Media Lab." Furthermore, the report found that "contrary to certain media reports, neither Epstein nor his foundations was ever coded as "disqualified" in MIT's donor systems. Further, the code "disqualified" does not mean that a person or entity is "blacklisted" or prohibited from donating to the institute. Rather, the term "disqualified" is a database code for any donor who previously donated to MIT but presently is dormant or is no longer interested in giving to MIT."[93][94]
The report's executive summary ends with the finding that "since MIT had no policy or processes for handling controversial donors in place at the time, the decision to accept Epstein's post-conviction donations cannot be judged to be a policy violation. But it is clear that the decision was the result of collective and significant errors in judgment that resulted in serious damage to the MIT community."
Center for Radical Transformation at CIT (2021–)[edit]
In December 2021, Ito was appointed as the Director of the Center for Radical Transformation (CRT) at Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan.[95] He also serves as a member of CIT's Board of Trustees.
In June 2023, Ito was named the 14th President of the Chiba Institute of Technology.[96][1][2][3] His first public appearance as President is at the Japan-U.S. Research Collaboration Week.[97] In September 2023, he outlined his vision for the future of Chiba Institute of Technology in the President's Message.[98]
^"Visiting Professors of Law". hls.harvard.edu. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
^ abFisher, Lawrence M. (August 2006). "The Ambassador from the Next Economy". strategy+business. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. via Internet Archive. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
^ abcKelly, Kevin; Rheingold, Howard (July–August 1993). "The Dragon Ate My Homework". Wired, the Condé Nast Publications Inc. 1 (3). Retrieved 2007-09-28.
^Rheingold, Howard (2000-11-01). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. The MIT Press. p. 227. ISBN0-262-68121-8.
^Interview (2004-08-24). "The World Wide Blog". Ubiquity, Association for Computing Machinery. 5 (25).