The pressure around OpenAI is increasing. As reported by the Japanese media IT Media, the Japanese government has taken a step forward. He officially submitted an official request to Sam Altman’s startup to stop copying his anime.
The request was made by Minoru Kiuchi, minister responsible for economic security and intellectual property in Japan, during a press conference at the Cabinet Office on Friday (October 10). He accused the company of copyright infringement.
It is based, in particular, on the Japanese law on the promotion of AI. Coming into force on September 1, it stipulates that the government can “analyze cases where the rights or interests of citizens have been violated by the research, development or use of AI-related technologies for inappropriate purposes or methods, and consider countermeasures based on these analyses.” On the other hand, the law does not provide clear sanctions in case of misuse of AI.
“More precise control” over character generation
The AI company has been attracting attention in Japan for several months. Since March, and the launch of a new image creation model directly integrated into ChatGPT, many Internet users have generated images on social networks visibly inspired by the style of Studio Ghibli. The problem is that the American company has not signed any licensing agreement with the Japanese studio. But the government did not react.
In late September, the release of Sora 2, the new major version of its AI-enabled video generator, reignited concerns. The app quickly became a huge success. Internet users quickly had fun generating videos that showed characters from series and video games protected by copyright. In the program, Mario who drives like crazy, Pikachu who attacks the beaches of Normandy or some videos inspired by one piece.
For his part, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in a blog post that it offers “more precise control over character generation, similar to the similarity membership model, but with additional controls.” Rights holders can now request that their intellectual property not be used in Sora. The creator of ChatGPT also announced on October 9 that it had implemented security measures to prevent the creation of famous people.
In his blog, the businessman did not fail to “salute the remarkable creativity of Japan.” “We are surprised by the depth of the connection between users and Japanese content,” he added. However, no formal response from OpenAI has yet been sent to the Japanese government.
And Japan is far from being an exception. Several US agencies and studios have criticized and called on OpenAI to take action regarding its Sora app. This is the case of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). “It is clear that OpenAI/Sora exposes our clients and their intellectual property to significant risks,” criticized the agency, which represents Scarlett Johansson, Doja Cat and Tom Hanks. For its part, the United Talent Agency described the candidacy as “exploitation, not innovation,” affirming its support for artists in this fight.
Source: BFM TV
