AIs Would Violate Copyright, Japan Warns

Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs has issued a resolution that could have a significant impact on the world of digital art and artificial intelligence (AI). According to this ruling, the process used by illustration-generating AIs constitutes copyright infringement if it focuses on the reproduction of specific styles of individual artists.

The ruling is based on an interpretation of the Copyright Act, which protects "creative expressions" rather than "ideas." While the "style" of art can be considered an "idea," it is not considered copyright infringement unless the AI learning process focuses on a single creator.

According to the statement issued by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, a set of copyrighted works made by the same person can be considered a "style" in itself. However, because all of these works share particular details and represent a unique "creative expression," they are protected by Copyright Law.

Therefore, the use of AI to learn and reproduce these types of illustrations with the aim of creating similar works is considered a violation of the current law. Specifically, if the AI-generated final product directly reflects the creative expression of a particular author, it is considered copyright infringement.

This resolution poses significant challenges for the community of digital artists and AI developers, who will now have to review their practices and ensure that they comply with the regulations set by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In addition, it is likely to spark a debate about the limits of intellectual property in the digital world and the role of AI in artistic creation.

"With this there will be a lot of lawsuits very soon."
"I'm fine with that, but it's a bit of a pain for those who draw by hand and would like to look like someone else's style."
"I think there wouldn't be as much of a problem if these people didn't try to monetize the art they steal."
"But with this kind of logic, it would be strange if it didn't apply to handmade drawings as well, wouldn't it?"
"Of course, the party suing has to prove it, so it's going to be difficult if it's not obvious. In the end, it's a question of whether the end result is similar."
"Learning something that's unique to that particular person is useless, it's almost like it doesn't make sense anymore."
"I liked AI cartoons that looked like the official anime cartoons, but won't that be possible anymore?"
"I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. How can you tell if you learned from One Piece or Fairy Tail?"
"I'm pro-Artificial Intelligence, but in this, it's true. I just hope no one misunderstands it and starts saying AI = BAD."
"Huh? What about the billions of violations?"
"It's true, isn't it? The thing is, it's very easy to make pirated copies that look different."
"AI is going to be regulated by power rather than ethical and legal issues. It's pretty bad."