A Japanese industry group representing publishers such as Studio Ghibli sent a letter to OpenAI last week, calling on the AI giant to stop training AI models on copyrighted content without permission.
Studio Ghibli, the animation studio behind films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, is particularly inspired by OpenAI’s generative AI products. When ChatGPT’s native image generator was released in March, it became a common trend for users to ask to recreate their selfies and pet photos in the style of studio movies. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also changed his X profile picture to a “Ghibli-ized” photo.
Now that more people are accessing OpenAI’s Sora app and video generator, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) has asked OpenAI not to use its members’ content for machine learning without their permission.
This request is not made without prompting. OpenAI’s approach to working with copyrighted content is to ask for forgiveness, not permission. Therefore, it has become very easy for users to generate photos and videos of copyrighted characters and deceased celebrities. This approach has sparked complaints from institutions like Nintendo and the estate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and could easily be deepfaked in the Sora app.
OpenAI chooses whether to cooperate with these requests. If not, aggrieved parties can sue, but US law regarding the use of copyrighted material for AI training remains unclear.
There is little precedent thus far guiding judges in interpreting copyright law, which has not been updated since 1976. However, a recent ruling by U.S. Federal Judge William Alsup ruled that Anthropic is not breaking the law by using copyrighted books to train its AI. However, the company was fined for pirated books used for training.
However, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) claims that this could be considered copyright infringement in Japan.
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“When certain copyrighted works are reproduced or similarly produced as output, as in Sora 2, CODA believes that the act of reproduction during the machine learning process may constitute copyright infringement,” CODA wrote. “Under Japan’s copyright system, prior permission is required in principle for the use of copyrighted works, and there is no system in place to avoid liability for infringement by filing a subsequent objection.”
Hayao Miyazaki, one of Studio Ghibli’s central creative figures, has not directly commented on the prevalence of AI interpretations of his work. But when he was shown an AI-generated 3D animation in 2016, he said he was “absolutely disgusted.”
“I don’t think it’s interesting to watch something like this,” he said at the time. “I feel strongly that this is an insult to life itself.”
