According to author Love Hina and Japanese politician Ken Akamatsu, the Japanese government is debating whether the AI image generation process automatically violates copyright protections for manga artists in Japan. Are not.
AI artwork is one of the biggest problems facing modern manga artists, who are often at risk of having their work stolen and reused by AI programs. Since the advent of AI, many governments around the world have begun to reassess how they should handle programs that rely on the existence of copyrighted material to create images. On X (formerly Twitter), Ken Akamatsu, who serves in the Japanese House of Representatives, recently addressed questions related to an AI program called LoRA. Allegedly, this program is used to create images that closely resemble the works of Kishin Higuchi, a famous manga artist in Japan.
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“We have received many questions regarding LoRA from Professor Kishin Higuchi. What's unique here is that the distribution area on Civitai says 'All images used for learning are created by myself and no copyrighted works of illustrators are used'. However, even if the illustrator's own copyrighted work is not used for AI learning at all, if the act of creating and using the product meets “similarity and dependence” compared to existing copyrighted works, that work may be used as copyright. would be a violation of rights,” Akamatsu wrote.
AI developers may be held responsible for Manga copyright infringement
If implemented, this decision will have far-reaching consequences, not only for those who create AI art but also for those who produce the technology used to create it. “In addition to users,” Akamatsu continued, “there is also the possibility that the developer (i.e. the creator of LoRA) could become an infringer…the government is also looking into the possibility of violating non-copyright rights , such as rights of publicity, in relation to generated AI”
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In the anime community, AI is frequently criticized for plagiarizing the styles of famous artists. Last year, Japanese publisher Shinchosha came under fire for publishing Cyberpunk: Peach John, an AI-generated manga that closely mirrors Tokyo Ghoul creator Sui Ishida's iconic style. Similarly, viewers also criticized Studio OLM (Pokémon, Yo-kai Watch) for using AI-generated artwork in the official music video for the Beyblade X series. Much of this collective outrage stems from originates from the belief that entertainment companies are simply replacing human artists with AI to save time and money during production.
Rootport, the creator of Peach John, defended his work by pointing out that the process is not entirely dependent on AI and still requires human participation. While this is true in many cases, many people are concerned about the growing use of AI and its impact on real-life artists. In the absence of immediate government action, Japanese artists began petitioning last year for protective legislation that could protect their work from AI programs like MIMIC, which can create images instantly from existing copyrighted works.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)