The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (often referred to as the abbreviation SAG-AFTRA) has officially called for a strike in regards to video game work. The strike is about protecting union actors from artificial intelligence hurting their careers. SAG-AFTRA …Read more »
Submissions are closed for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Illustration Contest 2024, and many people sent in their artwork for consideration. The coveted grand prize gets $5,000, plus their artwork will be made into an actual Pokémon card. On June 14 the top 300 artworks …Read more »
The Ikebukuro Anime Philharmonic concert series, which begins next month, is supposed to be all about celebrating anime and its music. But Yoko Takahashi, the performer for “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” from Neon Genesis Evangelion, has decided not to participate. She pulled out over frustrations …Read more »
In May, it was announced that publisher Shogakukan, JIC Venture Growth Investments (part of the state-backed Japan Investment Corp.) and more had invested 2.92 billion yen (about $19 million) in having the company Orange use artificial intelligence to translate 50,000 manga into English during the …Read more »
Rahul Purini, the president of Crunchyroll, mentioned in a recent interview that the company was experimenting with using AI for subtitles. This got a generally negative response from many anime fans, with their main contentions being that AI cannot properly translate Japanese with its subtleties, …Read more »
Crunchyroll is making waves in the anime industry over its decision not to let digital copies people bought on Funimation transfer over, and The Verge recently wrote an article on how difficult its writer found getting any kind of help from Crunchyroll. Now another controversy …Read more »
AI voice technology company Replica Studios (a.k.a. Replica) just made an agreement with The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (a.k.a. SAG-AFTRA) about the use of artificial intelligence in the voiceover world, and some anime actors are not fans. SAG-AFTRA …Read more »
The good news: Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga is back with a new arc, and fans will be able to read it in English in simultaneous release. The bad news: that English-language translation is being written by AI. Specifically, the manga is using …Read more »
A bipartisan group of Senators — Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — have come out with the discussion draft of their proposed bill they’re calling the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act. …Read more »
SHUEISHA’s MANGA Plus recently released the first chapter of Rugby Rumble, and readers quickly noted the poor lettering and text placement (see above). The reason? The lettering was done by AI, not a person. Specifically it was done by Orange Inc., which says it has …Read more »
The Mainichi Shimbun, a major Japanese news outlet, picked up a story of a Japanese artist in the Kansai region who had her work stolen and changed by AI after she came out against AI-made artwork. The artist’s name was not given. She made a …Read more »
The Arts Workers Japan, an association in Tokyo, sent an appeal to the country’s Agency for Cultural Affairs about protecting entertainers from losing their jobs or copyrights due to AI. This includes entertainers who work as voice actors in anime. “The advancement of AI under …Read more »
Horror mangaka Junji Ito is known for writing manga involving people’s fears. And in an interview with the Japanese site 4Gamer, he revealed one of his fears: that AI will replace artists. He shuddered at the thought of future manga being made by AI instead …Read more »
Netflix recently put out an anime short from WIT Studio on its Japanese YouTube channel. The anime, titled “Inu to Shonen” (translated as “The Dog and the Boy”) has a very unique feature: the backgrounds are AI-generated, using concept art done by people and getting …Read more »
Anime character designers don’t have to worry about being out of a job any time soon. After all, their job requires designing characters from all angles with a unique attention to detail. That’s not to say there isn’t any danger of automation on the horizon, …Read more »
Danica Davidson
Matt Schley
Joseph Luster