{"id":51796,"date":"2025-09-10T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51796"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:05:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T08:05:41","slug":"konamis-ai-project-backfires-yu-gi-oh-videos-deleted-over-unauthorized-use-of-popular-actress-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/konamis-ai-project-backfires-yu-gi-oh-videos-deleted-over-unauthorized-use-of-popular-actress-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Konami\u2019s AI project backfires, Yu-Gi-Oh! videos deleted over unauthorized use of popular actress\u2019 voice\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.konami.com\/yugioh\/masterduel\/jp\/ja\/news\/32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> from September 8, Konami has taken down two YouTube videos that used AI-generated commentary for <strong>Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship <\/strong>(WCS2025) duels. The videos were released in multiple languages as a trial for <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/OiXO1_Nw_lA?feature=shared\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Konami\u2019s AI live commentary project.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to the deletion, suspicions arose that the AI model used for the Japanese language commentary was trained on the voice of popular voice actress and singer Hibiku Yamamura without her consent. On September 6, Yamamura herself <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hibiku_yamamura\/status\/1963944289014296826\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commented on X<\/a>, \u201cthe other day, I discovered videos where my voice was being used for AI-generated narration without my permission.\u201d Although she did not openly cite any names, she is very likely referring to the videos published by Konami, given the circumstances. The voice actress said the ordeal made her \u201csad, frustrated and overwhelmed.\u201d She got her agency involved in dealing with the issue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u5148\u65e5\u3001\u81ea\u5206\u306e\u58f0\u304c\u7121\u65ad\u3067\u751f\u6210AI\u30ca\u30ec\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3068\u3057\u3066\u4f7f\u7528\u3055\u308c\u3066\u3044\u308b\u52d5\u753b\u3092\u898b\u3064\u3051\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<br>\uff08\u8a72\u5f53\u306e\u52d5\u753b\u5143\u306b\u306f\u4e8b\u52d9\u6240\u7d4c\u7531\u3067\u76f8\u8ac7\u30fb\u3054\u5bfe\u5fdc\u9802\u3044\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\uff09\u2026<\/p>&mdash; \u5c71\u6751\u97ff\ud83c\udf6c\u3084\u307e\u3080\u3089\u3072\u3073\u304f (@hibiku_yamamura) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hibiku_yamamura\/status\/1963944289014296826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Konami say they used the AI model Anneli, which is part of an open-source, commercial-use speech synthesis system called Aivis Project. In response to the suspected unauthorized learning, the company said it \u201crespects all creators and has begun investigating the situation.\u201d They assured users that none of the AI technology has been implemented in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel yet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the original creator of Anneli <a href=\"https:\/\/huggingface.co\/kaunista\/style-bert-vits2-Anneli?not-for-all-audiences=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has disclosed<\/a> as of August 30 that the model was trained on Est Gealach Arnotts, an adult game character voiced by Yamamura Hibiku, without her or the game publisher\u2019s permission. The website that distributes Aivis Project models, including Anneli, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aivis_project\/status\/1965066425464430816\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">temporarily shut down<\/a> as of September 8, while the company \u201cinvestigates the facts.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related article: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/ai-in-kazuma-kanekos-new-game-seemingly-outputs-images-similar-to-disney-characters-and-other-copyrighted-material-raising-concerns\/\">AI\u00a0in Kazuma Kaneko\u2019s new game seemingly outputs images\u00a0similar to Disney characters and other copyrighted material, raising concerns\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An open-source voice synthesis AI model used by Konami is suspected of being trained on Hibiku Yamamura without her consent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":51799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-51796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Konami\u2019s AI project backfires, Yu-Gi-Oh! videos deleted over unauthorized use of popular actress\u2019 voice\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An open-source voice synthesis AI model used by Konami is suspected of being trained on Hibiku Yamamura without her consent.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/konamis-ai-project-backfires-yu-gi-oh-videos-deleted-over-unauthorized-use-of-popular-actress-voice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Konami\u2019s AI project backfires, Yu-Gi-Oh! videos deleted over unauthorized use of popular actress\u2019 voice\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An open-source voice synthesis AI model used by Konami is suspected of being trained on Hibiku Yamamura without her consent.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/konamis-ai-project-backfires-yu-gi-oh-videos-deleted-over-unauthorized-use-of-popular-actress-voice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-09T15:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908-51796-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Konami\u2019s AI project backfires, Yu-Gi-Oh! 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