Following the popularity of the AI-generated images in Studio Ghibli-style that took over the internet a few weeks ago, Japanese lawmakers are considering making them illegal. The images, created by tools like ChatGPT sparked debate amongst the animation world.
Centering around the iconic animation style of Studio Ghibli, which is beloved by the communities world wide and has been seen as a big part of Japan’s cultural identity, the images sparked a debate that sees lawmakers and Hayao Miyazaki enter into the conversation about whether or not it crosses any lines of copyright infringement. Now lawmakers in Japan are planning on potentially taking action over the “Ghiblification” of images. At a recent government committee meeting, lawmakers posted questions of ethics and copyright law to the forefront.
According to Dexerto Constitutional Democratic Party member Masato Imai brought up the topic with Hirohika Nakahara of the topic. Imai asked, “There has been discussion of whether the so-called ‘Ghiblification,’ making AI-generated images in the Ghibli style, constitutes copyright violation. Under the current interpretation of the law, just how legal is it?” Nakahara replied, “Ultimately, that is something for courts to decide. “If it is only a matter of the style or ideas being similar, then it would not be considered copyright infringement. If AI-generated content is determined to be similar to or reliant on preexisting copyrighted works, then there is a possibility that it could constitute copyright infringement.” Imai clarified, “So the use of styles and ideas is legal, but if [an AI-generated image] were recognized as being ‘Ghibli itself,’ then that would be a violation of law.” The decision of whether or not Ghibli-style images created by language-learning models like ChatGPT infringes on Studio Ghibli’s intellectual property still needs to be discussed. However for now, there is no direct legal action to be taken against ChatGPT by the Japanese government.
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