“Stop plagiarizing manga and anime”: Japan raises its voice against OpenAI and Sora 2

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Generative AI is a blessing for certain jobs, whether to facilitate or automate tasks. However, it is a breeding ground for artists, who have their creations stolen. Facing Sora 2the rights holders clearly see red, without any barrier to creation. A situation which has the gift of annoying Japan, which sees red in the face of the plagiarism of two pillars of Japanese culture: mangas and anime.

Sora abuses his AI video generation

With Sora 2, OpenAI is doing wonders in the field of video generation. In addition to being a financial pit, the launch of this version presents a big downside: terribly limited control on content creation, criticized from all sides.

Although Sam Altman, CEO of the company, reacted quickly to the situation, the damage had already been done, with elements of pop culture being used without owning the rights.

“SpongeBob cooking meth in a filthy lab, entire episodes of South Park mass-generated as stolen content, and physicist Stephen Hawking, dead for years, humiliated, beaten, transformed into a sordid punchline by soulless algorithms”these were the examples that we mentioned to you earlier in the month.

All this obviously annoyed the rights holders, and in particular Japan, rich in an ultra-developed cultural universe popularized over the last two decades: mangas and anime.

Japan sees red, and threatens OpenAI

After the generation of images from GPT-4o which undermined Studio Ghibli, Sora 2 attacks distinguished Japanese licenses with 20-second clips in the world of Pokémon, Mario, One Piece and Demon Slayer.

IGN reports that the Japanese government reacted strongly by demanding that OpenAI stop copying its “irreplaceable treasures” like manga and anime. Minoru Kiuchi, Minister of State for Intellectual Property and AI Strategy, also formally asked the company not to touch protected content in Japan.

Akihisa Shiozaki, deputy secretary general of the LDP, Japan’s ruling party, then threatened OpenAI to open an investigation on the basis of the AI ​​Promotion Act. A tool that could allow the country to have precise information on the functioning of Sora 2.

If nothing changes, this could lead to official sanctions aimed at regulating or limiting the use of this AI on Japanese territory.