Japan’s first fairly-trained certified AI image generation model is released, with the concept of a cute VTuber at art school
Mitsua Likes is a new AI image generation model trained solely on authorized images, valuing transparency and crediting source image creators.
Japanese game developer COLOPL partners with Stable Diffusion’s developer, garnering criticism
Colopl, known for co-developing Square Enix's Dragon Quest Walk, is partnering with Stability AI to introduce gen AI into their development.
Attack on Titan voice actor Yuki Kaji releases official voice synthesizer to counter people feeding his voice to AI without permission
Top Japanese voice actor Yuki Kaji has crowdfunded and released official synthesized voices to tackle unauthorized generative AI use.
Japan’s top voice actors band together to fight against their voices being used to train AI without permission
26 of Japan's top voice actors have launched the No More Unauthorized Generative AI campaign to encourage dialogue on gen AI usage.
One Piece author Eiichiro Oda faces backlash for comment about making “erotic” AI images
One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda has come under fire for comments related to a One Piece caricature app that appears to use generative AI.
Top Japanese anime actors’ voices to be converted into multiple languages in AI voice generation project
Partnership between Aoni Productions and Coefont aims to use multi-language AI voices generated from real voice actors for virtual assistants etc.
Konami to broadcast Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel competition between AI duelists
In the special programme, two engineer teams will attempt to create AI Duelists that can beat each other at Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
Palworld dev shares stance on generative AI in future games: “We don’t want to actively pursue something that upsets people”
CEO of Palworld developer PocketPair comments on the company's past AI-related game and their stance for future titles.
Palworld does not use generative AI, PocketPair CEO assures
Palworld's AI accusations have been ongoing since the game's launch, but PocketPair's CEO has come out to deny any use of generative AI.
The Pokémon Company disqualifies TCG contest entries following rule violations and suspicions of gen AI use
In the wake of controversy surrounding the Pokémon Trading Card Game Illustration Contest 2024, some entries have been disqualified for breaking the rules
Square Enix CEO switches to a more cautious approach to generative AI use
Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu's latest remarks about the company's use of AI may indicate a more apprehensive attitude on the matter.
Evangelion singer boycotts event over use of gen AI imagery, expressing solidarity with other artists
Evangelion opening theme singer Yoko Takahashi has withdrawn from an anime concert in protest of the gen AI used on the event's poster
Japanese translators openly protest government’s AI manga translation initiative
The Japan Association of Translators warns that planned use of AI for rapid, mass translation of manga will damage Japan's soft power
Can AI solve the anime industry’s problems? Industry member sparks discussion
A Japanese anime industry member's tweet on how AI could be used to help animators has drawn various views on the contentious issue
Pixiv bans all images indistinguishable from photographs, likely to tackle malicious deepfakes
The art platform Pixiv has revised its guidelines to tackle malicious deepfake images, but the new prohibitions are being criticized.
Cygames’ parent company announces policy on generative AI use
Granblue Fantasy series dev Cygames' parent company explain how they envision enhancing employee creativity through generative AI usage.
AI learning dataset full of Japanese video game voice lines sparks controversy
The AI learning dataset MoeSpeech compiles a vast amount of Japanese voice lines from PC games, and it has not been well received by the community in both ethical and legal aspects.
Japanese tool protects your artwork from AI learning
Japanese company SnackTime has just launched their emamori service, which enables creators to protect their artwork from AI learning and AI image generation programs
Nintendo Switch “hentai” game influx shocks Japanese users
Japanese My Nintendo Store users have been noticing an influx of foreign 17+ Switch games that include the word “Hentai,” and it hasn't been received well.
Initiative to integrate AI and Blockchain technology into anime production causes mixed responses in Japan
Japan's AI and blockchain experts have launched the "AnimeChain" initiative, intended to redefine the anime production ecosystem using AI and blockchain technology, causing mixed reactions in the community.
New Japanese AI tool will detect suspicious job listings
Tokyo-based recruitment website operator to introduce a generative AI tool to help detect the increasing number of shady part-time job listings in Japan.
Watch an NPC reality show unfold in this AI-powered life sim
Ememe is an anime-style life sim in which you can "make your own Truman Show" with NPCs, whose words and actions are entirely AI generated.