Danica Davidson
October 16, 2024 
In America, SAG-AFTRA has been fighting for actors’ rights against generative AI, and now some well-known Japanese voice actors have launched their own group known as “No More Mudan Seisei AI” (translated as “No More Unauthorized Generative AI”).
They dropped a short video, which starts with veteran VA Ryūsei Nakao talking directly to the audience. Nakao, whose many credits include Freeza in Dragon Ball Z and Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Bleach, declares he was startled to realize that his voice was being sold off through AI, even though he had not given license for this to happen. His voice work is how he keeps a roof over his head, and he calls his voice acting his life, so he finds this very troubling. He asks that we pay attention to what voice actors say about this issue.
Then we see 25 other voice actors join the screen. Among them is Romi Park (Hange in Attack on Titan), Kōichi Yamadera (Ryoga in Ranma ½), Daisuke Namikawa (Haganezuka in Demon Slayer), Yuki Kaji (Eren in Attack on Titan), and Jun Fukuyama (Koro-sensei in Assassination Classroom). Together they all say, “No More Mudan Seisei AI.”
Some anime voice actors, like Masako Nozawa and Banjō Ginga, have agreed to let generative AI apply their voices for things like virtual assistants. The aforementioned Kaji also made his voice available for use, but people have to get permission first.
In America, English dub voice actors have also expressed concerns about generative AI and how it could use their voices against their will and threaten their livelihood.
Beyond voice acting, the Japan Association of Translators spoke out against company Orange’s use of artificial intelligence to translate 50,000 manga into English during the next five years, arguing, “First, in its current form, AI translation has yet to demonstrate the level of quality required to adequately portray nuance, cultural background, or character traits, which are critical to a work of fiction. Using machines to churn out mass quantities of translated works in a short amount of time (according to official announcements, 50,000 works in 5 years, with the shortest turnaround being 2 days per work) risks greatly diminishing the value of the work itself.”
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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