Junya Morita Interview

AionMetis’ cooperation with Shizuoka University and the ACML Lab is vital to its very existence. It is not a coincidence that we, headquartered in NYC, have gone as far as Hamamatsu, Japan in order to realize our product. Their innovative approach and years of investment in cognitive science and informatics drew us to them from the start.  Professor Junya Morita, AionMetis cofounder and CSO, sat down with me to discuss a few of the key points behind AionMetis, the ACML lab, and his work.


Q - In order for our audience to get to know you a little better, let’s start at a general question. Professor Morita, if you had to give an overview of your research interests and field, how would you categorize it?

The ultimate goal of my research is to enhance human intelligence. To do so, we must first understand what human intelligence is and how it operates. I address this end by building computational models that externalize aspects of human intelligence. Once we construct such a model, we can allow it to interact with actual humans. In this setup, humans engage with artifacts that mimic themselves—effectively becoming meta-level agents who reflect on and interact with representations of their own cognition.

Q - What drew you to these specific fields to begin with? What would you say are the strengths of cognitive science that made it interesting for you?

I became interested in this field when I realized that many of the fundamental problems we face - whether personal or societal - ultimately stem from the workings of the human mind. Since these issues are created by humanity itself, understanding and learning how to regulate mental processes could lead to a society that is more rational and more fulfilling for individuals, and less prone to long-term decay.

To move toward such a society, I believe we need to enhance people’s metacognition—the ability to monitor and control one’s own cognitive processes. A key way to train metacognition is by first understanding how cognition works.

Q - The Applied Cognitive Modeling Lab at Shizuoka University you head is unique in its approach to behavior informatics, can you tell us a little bit more about it? How would you say that specialty connects to your work with AionMetis?

At the Applied Cognitive Modeling Lab at Shizuoka University, our goal is to apply

computational models of cognition—built on cognitive science insights—to people’s

everyday lives. To do this effectively, we need to capture and structure data from daily

human activity. This is where behavior informatics becomes essential. Behavior informatics is

an emerging field that focuses on leveraging large-scale behavioral data available for the first time in modern circumstances. Our faculty at Shizuoka University even includes a dedicated department for this field, which includes my lab.

By combining methods from behavior informatics with our research on cognitive modeling, we can develop systems that estimate individual cognitive tendencies based on observed behavior. These models can then serve as a kind of “mirror” that reflects an individual’s cognitive state, helping to enhance their metacognitive awareness. This approach directly informs the development of AionMetis, which is envisioned as a next-generation system that supports individuals by fostering such reflective insight into their own cognition.

Q - AionMetis seeks to help students struggling with executive functioning and workflow problems by using cognitive science and informatics, could you tell us a bit about the research that supports that being an effective approach?

Enhancing metacognition has been shown to be effective in addressing various mental health challenges related to executive functioning, including conditions such as ADHD and certain mood disorders. In particular, the ability to monitor one’s own cognitive state is recognized as a standard approach in interventions for issues such as Internet addiction. AionMetis aims to amplify this kind of metacognitive function through computational means.

This idea is backed by research I conducted with Thankit and others, where we used a

personalized model to track how users behaved during web searches. The system was able to

estimate the user’s mental condition—such as whether they were overly tired or overly stimulated—and provide gentle prompts at the right moments to help them stay focused and

balanced. This helped users keep their minds in a more stable and productive state throughout

their task.

Q - Why do you think AionMetis is an important product? Why do you think this is the time for it to come out?

In today’s world, where artificial intelligence has become increasingly advanced and

widespread, it’s becoming harder for human cognitive functions to exist independently. Of

course, humans have always lived within social constructs, and our thinking has long been shaped by our surrounding environments. In that sense, the way modern people are influenced by AI and online recommendation systems may not be entirely new. However, the influence of digital technologies on our minds does not always lead us in a sustainable direction. AI systems trained on human desires often end up reinforcing those same desires—feeding us more of what we want in the moment, rather than what we truly need.

This can result in the gradual erosion of our time, attention, and long-term well-being.

In such an environment, preserving human agency and mental clarity requires more than

reliance on opaque, black-box AI systems. We need tools that are not only effective but also

trustworthy—systems grounded in scientific knowledge and transparent in their design.

Cognitive models based on rigorous academic research can offer such guidance. That is why I

believe AionMetis is important, and why this is the right time for it to be introduced.

Collaboration with Shizuoka University

We are proud to announce that we, AionMetis have been approved by Shizuoka University for further cooperation. Our co founder and CSO Professor Morita teaches in the university so it was immensely important for us to have them onboard and we are very glad to continue our cooperation The university itself boasts many prestigious collaborations, from Suzuki to Yamaha and from Denso to Roland and beyond.

Speaking of the university’s Department of Behavior Informatics professor Morita remarks “ The Department of Behavior Informatics at Shizuoka University is very innovative, it is very rare across the world to see full departments dedicated to Behavior Informatics which utilize daily activity as digital data to progress within our work and our search for wellbeing. This makes the department unique and one of a kind”

Aion News Launch!

As things heat up and we move towards new and exciting milestones in our project, we have decided to launch a news segment where we’ll update our followers with new information, articles, and developments moving forwards. Stay tuned!

(Picture attached from our current work-trip to Hamamatsu, Japan, by Benek Babalon)