Photo/Illutration Railway operator Keio Corp. has introduced a lost-and-found service assisted by artificial intelligence technology. (Provided by Keio Corp.)

Railway operator Keio Corp. has been hopping aboard artificial intelligence to dramatically increase the rate of returning lost-and-found items to their rightful owners.

Like other railway operators, Keio faced difficulties returning items left on its trains because riders had to notify officials at the nearest station or go to the company’s lost-and-found storage location to retrieve a missing item.

Many users simply gave up finding their lost belongings because of the time and effort.

Keio officials in 2023 turned to a Tokyo-based company with the appropriate name of find Inc. to help them. 

Find was a company chosen to be part of the Keio Open Innovation Program. 

It developed a 24-hour service using the LINE messaging app to accept inquiries from Keio passengers about lost items.

Using the messages containing characteristics of the item or even a photo, find used AI to search through the lost-and-found database for a possible match. By narrowing the possibilities, Keio could more quickly and efficiently return lost items to their owners.

After the service was introduced, 30 percent of items inquired about through the service were returned, a threefold increase over the old method.

Of the 16,000 items lost on Keio trains every month, about 6,000 have been returned to their owners. Moreover, phone inquiries decreased by about 30 percent, further increasing work efficiency.

A Keio official said the company would continue to work with find to achieve its goal of always being able to locate lost items.

The service provided by Keio and find won a Cabinet Office contest in March because judges determined that the service could be applied to find lost items in other locations, such as baseball stadiums and amusement parks.

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