Can AI solve the anime industry’s problems? Industry member sparks discussion
A debate in Japanese about AI’s place in the anime industry has blown up on X. In an open letter-style post to the anime industry, one creator and company president explained how correct use of AI could help employees under the anime industry’s notorious working conditions (Related Article). The post quickly went viral with over 1000 retweets and many users expressing their opinions on the issue.
He went on to explain how AI could be used as a useful tool- as it is getting better and processing images with increasingly high resolution. He emphasizes that the work of the human artist will not disappear, but suggests that animators can use AI to enhance their initial drawings and save time.
Some people agreed with this approach of using AI as a time-saving tool for animators, envisioning specific ways it could be utilized.
On the other hand, some X users vehemently disagreed and stated that AI should not be used in anime at all. A common argument was that AI creations are soulless compared to those made by a human. Even if AI is only used as an assistive tool, users were worried that it would still end up replacing people’s jobs. One commenter expressed concern about what would happen to new aspiring animators who have yet to make a name for themselves, as well as background artists and other such people who are currently drawing by hand.
Some people, like the commenter below, agreed that while AI could be used to help animators struggling with heavy workloads and short deadlines, this does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to exploitative practices in the anime industry.
As a side note, a large-scale survey conducted by the Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association (NAFCA) last year indicated that the majority of anime industry professionals want AI to be legally regulated, but are open to its use (Related Article). Many anime fans who value hand-drawn animation, on the other hand, seem to be opposed to the implementation of AI in anime creation. Overall, AI use in anime is a divisive topic, and it will remain to be seen how it ends up being adopted by the industry as a whole.