On October 28, the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), an organization representing many of Japan’s major publishers and producers, submitted a written request to OpenAI. As previously reported on by Automaton, the request calls on the American tech company to cease training its Sora 2 generative AI on the copyrighted IPs of its members. This is the latest move in the ongoing controversy in Japan over Sora 2.
OpenAI publicly launched Sora 2 on October 1, and social media was soon awash with users sharing Sora 2-generated video clips. Many feature convincing likenesses of copyrighted characters, including well-known Japanese IPs like Pokémon, Mario, One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Demon Slayer. The popularity of Japanese content-related prompts was acknowledged by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in his post-launch blog post about Sora 2, in which he said: “We are struck by how deep the connection between users and Japanese content is!”
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CODA, the Japanese organization petitioning OpenAI about this unauthorized usage, was founded back in 2002 to combat piracy and promote legal international distribution of Japanese content. Its members include many major Japanese companies involved in anime, manga and game publishing, such as Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Studio Ghibli, Cygames, Toei Animation, Kadokawa, and Aniplex (now owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan).
In the statement, CODA said that it has confirmed that a large amount of Sora 2’s output “closely resembles Japanese content or images” as a result of said Japanese content being used as machine learning data without permission. CODA went on to state that Sora 2’s replication of specific copyrighted content through machine learning may constitute copyright infringement.
CODA made two requests to OpenAI. Firstly it asked that its members’ content no longer be used for Sora 2‘s machine learning without prior permission. Secondly, it called on OpenAI to respond sincerely to any copyright infringement claims and inquiries from CODA members regarding Sora 2’s outputs.
On September 29, Reuters reported that OpenAI had contacted studios and talent agencies a week before Sora 2’s launch, giving them the option to opt out. However it is unclear which studios were contacted during this short timeframe, and if this included Japanese rightsholders or not. In an X post on Sora 2’s launch day, Japanese politician and lawyer Akihisa Shiozaki expressed concern about the legal issues presented by Sora 2 and the need for Japanese companies to take swift action, noting that Sora 2 seemed unable to generate some (American) IPs, including Disney and Marvel characters. In his blog post on October 4, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the company would “let rightsholders decide how to proceed” regarding Sora 2’s output, and that there might be some “edge cases” of character depictions slipping through the cracks.
CODA’s statement acknowledged Sora 2’s opt out system, but explained that “under Japan’s copyright system, prior permission is generally required for the use of copyrighted works, and there is no system allowing one to avoid liability for infringement through subsequent objections.” In other words, OpenAI is already considered to have infringed on the copyright of Japanese IPs by using them for machine learning without permission from the rightsholders.
Earlier in October, the Japanese Cabinet Office submitted a formal request to OpenAI, asking the company to refrain from infringing upon copyrighted Japanese IPs. This move generated much discussion on social media between Japanese politicians and fans alike, with some lawmakers suggesting that Japan should invoke measures under its AI Promotion Act if OpenAI does not voluntarily resolve the issue.
It remains to be seen how OpenAI will respond to this latest appeal from CODA.
Photo by Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/japanese-organization-representing-the-likes-of-bandai-namco-square-enix-and-studio-ghibli-demands-openai-ceases-unauthorized-training-of-sora-2-on-their-ips