The New York Times conducted an in-depth and meticulous analysis of three AI-generated image-sharing websites. In the process, it was shocking to discover more than 90,000 images, all of which were imitations of existing anime works. Among such a vast number of images, approximately 2,500 were strikingly similar to the originals, to the extent that they might constitute copyright infringement.
The report clearly pointed out that despite the astonishing rate at which AI technology is currently developing and progressing, the unauthorized use has already posed a serious threat to the Japanese anime industry. An in-depth investigation revealed that AI image generation platforms allow users to generate and publish images with just simple prompts. These images are very likely to include characteristics of copyrighted works. For instance, well-known characters such as Pikachu and Mario appear in the AI-generated images in the thousands. Some of these images are almost indistinguishable from the originals.
The investigation further mentioned that AI learns from a vast amount of data to generate content, and this data may very well include unauthorized copyrighted works. Against the backdrop of the global anime market, which is worth nearly 30 trillion yen in distribution, AI-generated anime images are flooding the market. This phenomenon has sparked widespread discussion on how to address this new type of copyright infringement issue.