When AI-generated images and anime began infiltrating social media two years ago, illustrator Momoji Mokume despaired that Japan was turning into “a paradise for copyright infringement and machine learning.”
“I assumed the career of illustrator would disappear and even the culture of creativity could be lost,” said Mokume, a 21-year-old university student in Tokyo who’s an illustrator, anime artist and musician under his pseudonym. “It felt like there was no future for us.”
During this time, global technology leaders akin to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI's Sam Altman flocked to Tokyo to satisfy Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. They were attracted by the large potential of AI in an economy facing an ageing population and chronic labor shortages. OpenAI later selected Tokyo as the placement for its first office in Asia.
Although Japan doesn’t have its own AI giants, it’s attracting some technology firms to the marketplace for another excuse: The country's copyright law, critics say, allows the widespread use of copyrighted images and other materials for industrial purposes to coach AI models without obtaining appropriate permission.
“There are many explanation why Japan is attractive to AI firms. These include the necessity for firms there to quickly develop their digital capabilities and the country's shrinking population, which could be very open to AI,” says Yutaka Matsuo, a professor on the University of Tokyo and chairman of the federal government's AI Council.
“Another advantage is that AI firms are allowed to learn from information without violating copyright laws,” he added.
Japan's open approach to AI comes at a time when other countries akin to the US, EU and China are developing stricter rules on how technology firms train their AI models. Creative industry leaders have also raised concerns about their work getting used by AI firms without permission or a fee.
Mokume is amongst tens of 1000’s of illustrators, artists and musicians who’ve spoken out against the shortage of protection for copyright holders.
In response, the Agency for Cultural Affairs published latest guidelines in March outlining cases through which AI firms could possibly be held chargeable for copyright infringement, but a suggestion to revise the law was not yet expected.
“With regard to generative AI, Japan's existing copyright law does nothing to guard creators. In fact, it goals to limit the rights of creators,” the Japan Society for the Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers said in an announcement to the Financial Times.
The outcry from the domestic creative industry comes as Kishida is leading efforts on the G7 summit and other international meetings to deal with what he calls the “dark side” of artificial intelligence, calling for international guidelines on using the brand new technology to scale back the danger of disinformation.
“Regulations are seen as a hindrance to innovation, nevertheless it is needed to ascertain clear and transparent rules to create an environment through which users feel secure using generative AI, because it is a technology with enormous societal impact,” said Takeaki Matsumoto, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Beyond copyright rules, some AI executives say Japan is a lovely marketplace for other reasons, including opportunities in private firms and public institutions, government support and the power to face out within the increasingly crowded industry within the U.S.
David Ha co-founded Tokyo-based AI startup Sakana after previously leading Google's AI research arm in Japan and dealing at London-based startup StabilityAI. “If we began an organization within the Bay Area in San Francisco, we could be just one in every of several hundred firms,” Ha said.
To attract tech startups, the Kishida government is counting on subsidies, akin to providing state-funded computing power to some key firms, including Sakana. It's the identical strategy, albeit on a much lower scale, that it used to steer global chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to fabricate in Japan.
“As for generative AI, the prime minister has made various efforts on this front. He has met with many key IT leaders they usually have set their sights on Japan because the country offers an environment that’s suitable from each a livable and industrially prosperous perspective,” Matsumoto said.
“I feel it is going to be very useful for the longer term of this country if Japan is at the middle of those technologies, including data centers and AI,” he added.
But the push to bring AI firms to Japan has raised concerns amongst some. Mokume, who leads a volunteer group made up mostly of illustrators, expressed hope that Japan will eventually have a legal system that protects its creative industry and copyright holders.
Even and not using a revision of existing copyright law, more protection could possibly be ensured by a stricter interpretation of certain clauses, he said. This features a clause that makes it clear that using works for AI development shouldn’t be permitted “if the motion would unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright holder, having regard to the character or purpose of the work or the circumstances on the time of its use.”
“If Japan desires to play a world-leading role on this AI issue, it cannot afford such situations at home,” Mokume said. “In fact, it’s inevitable that foreign AI firms will view Japan as a paradise for copyright infringement and machine learning, because unauthorized learning will proceed irrespective of how much illustrators are harmed by generative AI.”
