When the AI Studio Ghibli filter was released, there was a heated debate over designers ‘ rights. It turns photos and videos into Hayao Miyazaki‘s beloved anime style. A 2016 meeting with Studio Ghibli’s co-founder was also widely circulated, even though Studio Ghibli didn’t immediately respond to the popular trend. Miyazaki claimed in it that he was “utterly disgusted” by AI-generated content and that it was” an insult to life itself.” But that hasn’t stopped Japan from pushing for AI development. The copyrighted materials requirement under the Japanese copyright Act, which was amended in 2019, is generally understood as allowing the use of protected materials to coach AI tools without the owner’s consent. The country’s AI investors are drawn to the Asian nation by the law, which is particularly more permissive than those in the Union or the US. Japanese designers are now concerned about these innovations. In contrast to the roughly 27, 000 respondents who work in creative fields, a survey by Arts Workers Japan found that 94 % of Asian artists have reservations about AI violating their rights in 2023. The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs made a statement to the government last year that the country’s liberal rule does not apply if the abuse of copyrighted runs “unreasonably prejudices the passions of the trademark owner.” Any war for copyright protection will undoubtedly be difficult by this point, though. Everyone has been targeted by the technique, according to Charlie Fink, a teacher of visual AI at Chapman University in California, even if politicians do manage to believe that using copyrighted material to educate AI models is not appropriate. So the question is,” If the crime is big enough, how could you possibly begin to repair the damage”? He inquires. The Asian nation has been promoting its distinctive historical performances as part of an international company method known as” Cool Japan.” One of those notable soft energy exports is animation. According to an annual statement from the Association of Japanese Animations, a global animation bubble caused the Chinese market to reach a record high in 2023, with an output of as many as 300 TV titles that year. Additionally, AI is already a part of the mix. The first AI-powered anime,” Twins Hinahima,” was released in March of this year. A short anime clip called” Dog &, The Boy,” which was released by Netflix Japan in 2023, also used AI-generated artwork to create the backgrounds. Due to the anime industry’s unattractive working conditions, there is currently a labor shortage. According to a report released in 2024 by the Nippon Anime and Film Culture Association, workers were frequently overworked and underpaid, with hourly rates frequently falling below the country’s minimum wage. Roland Kelts, an expert on anime and visiting professor at Japan‘s Waseda University School of Culture, Media and Society, points out that the use of AI in anime can be seen as a way to bridge the gender gap. He told DW that because the population is shrinking, there aren’t many young artists and that they are being paid very poorly for their labor. An anime production company called K&, K Design incorporates AI in its work. It employs a modified version of Stable Diffusion’s text-to-image model. Hiroshi Kawakami, vice president of K&, K Design, says the tool saves a lot of time and effort by helping with coloring, background generation, and turning photos and videos into anime. He informed DW that only two drawings from the AI model can now be sent to the AI model for a five-second anime clip, which would typically require a week of hand-drawn work. About 60 % of Japanese artists are concerned about losing their jobs to AI, according to the Arts Workers Japan survey. Kawakami insists that AI plays a” supporting” role and cannot, among other things, replace humans in the areas of visual judgment and creative ideation. According to Kelts, AI can help create such content because a culture embraces technologyStudios create anime projects for late-night TV. He says that in the East Asian nation, creativity is not threatened by this. Kelts explains that the Japanese do not necessarily consider the possibility of having AI recreate its version of” One Piece” in a few years as a threat. The Japanese are less hesitant to think about robotics, AI, or technology because, as he claims, technology is woven into nature.” In Shinto [ Japan‘s national religion], all things have a kami, or spirit,” he says. Taking inspiration from Hollywood insidersThe AI trend will be felt by filmmakers all over the world, and many are already incorporating it into their work. Taylor Nixon-Smith, a Canadian independent filmmaker, claims he uses ChatGPT to create lists of tasks for pre-shooting, gather research, and create operational contracts, but he also points out that the majority of filmmaking tasks can still be performed by humans. According to Nixon-Smith, “you still need a costume designer to draft up the boards, you still need buyers to go out and buy things, and you still need stitchers to draft up the wardrobe so it fits the actors properly.” Former Disney executive and current adjunct professor of cinematic AI at Chapman University, Charlie Fink, believes that the use of the rapidly evolving technology will “lead to a new golden age of Hollywood,” one that would be “highly democratized, because an individual could make a film for a few thousand dollars,” he told DW. According to Fan, having hundreds of people work on a live-action film production will be a thing of the past. Actors are currently still at the center of production, but Fink adds that AI performances will” totally change in the next couple of years.” Hollywood actors went on strike last year due to the looming threat because there aren’t enough protections for employees in AI-related fields. The US Congress reintroduced the NO FAKES Act last month, which targets unauthorized AI replicas. Entertainment industry giants, including Walt Disney, YouTube, SAG-AFTRA, and OpenAI, helped to support the bill. However, for Fink, this legislation can be characterized as” the first stage of grief.” According to him, AI’s rise is unavoidable. He says it will gradually replace actors and producers, and that he advises learning to use AI to advance:” Disruption also means opportunity.”
