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INTEREST: New NHK Video Report Shows Generative AI Use in Anime/Manga Industries




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fencer_x



Joined: 28 Jul 2011
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 6:16 am Reply with quote
Yeah nah. There's zero place for generative AI in creative industries. If I find out a piece of media I'm consuming has used genAI, I'm done.

The only reason for a creative to use AI is because you're lazy. I don't care if you're 8 or 80.
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Lactobacillus yogurti



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 858
Location: Latin America
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 7:16 am Reply with quote
One word: ASSISTANTS. If you're still getting money, pay people to help you.

Screw AI. It's used not to help people, but to replace them.
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AsleepBySunset



Joined: 07 Sep 2022
Posts: 244
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 7:22 am Reply with quote
They're constantly trying to convince you ai is being adopted on mass to make you feel, as they will say themselves "resistance is futile".

If AI is truly the way of the future, why do they lie and pretend no AI is used, why don't they come forward and admit AI was used?
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Megumi Chisato



Joined: 04 Aug 2021
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 9:21 am Reply with quote
Lactobacillus yogurti wrote:
One word: ASSISTANTS. If you're still getting money, pay people to help you.

Screw AI. It's used not to help people, but to replace them.


The problem is that there is no money. At this point in time, animators aren't even being paid a living wage and are being driven to the brink to meet deadlines, and there's a snowball's chance in hell that conditions are going to improve.

With (ethical) AI (trained on their own data) cutting down the work, there is a chance that animators will be able to maintain the output that's being demanded of them while cutting both costs and stress. While I agree that generative AI shouldn't be used to replace people or creativity, the way they're using it seems perfectly in line with how someone would use any other time-saving tool.

Then again, I wouldn't put it past corporations to demand even more from animators thanks to the reduced workloads or use AI themselves to replace them.
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Lactobacillus yogurti



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 858
Location: Latin America
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 11:17 am Reply with quote
The reason there's no money is a vicious cycle. They want to keep the money but not pay it to the people that work for them, so they replace them to save money. So corporations are the root of the problem.

And there's no ethics in genAI. Not when they've openly admitted they need to get rid of copyright to keep on scraping.
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FishLion



Joined: 24 Jan 2024
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Megumi Chisato wrote:
With (ethical) AI (trained on their own data) cutting down the work...

Then again, I wouldn't put it past corporations to demand even more from animators thanks to the reduced workloads or use AI themselves to replace them.


You pointed out the problem right there, there is no ethical generative AI. Even the ones that are trained in house are training models that were created by stealing everyone's art. Creating a tool by stealing everyone's art and then directing it towards more original content by training it so it doesn't look like stolen art doesn't mean an ethical tool is created, it just means people's labor was stolen and then the fact was hidden.

I would rather there be less anime for the same pay so people aren't overworked than we fill in the gaps by using an unethical tool, but no matter how great a tool we make the powers that be are just going to continue to overwork people to maximize production. Getting the production teams to offer better conditions is the only thing will improve conditions, no amount of streamlining will ever make the industry suddenly grow a conscious and say "we've streamlined things enough, we need to pass these savings on to the workers."

The key difference between genAI and other time saving measures is that it is aiming to replace human work. A tool that makes gradients for the artist so the artist doesn't have to do that is keeping the artist's responsibilities the same and taking one gradient off their plate. Using a tool that creates in-betweens is taking an entire position off of a production team that could be a stepping stone to more projects or a chance to be paid to improve one's art. I know the anime industry is rough, but we can't introduce automation that replaces whole jobs and assume it's going to benefit workers as opposed to just overworking a smaller number of people who have to fix the AI's output.

I wouldn't even call that cynical, I would just say that the people pushing AI have created an environment of false optimism. It is a tool to make worse work for cheaper and hope we don't notice the difference, it isn't going to benefit anyone in the industry except those who trying to keep profits up.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6481
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 12:55 pm Reply with quote
As I stated in the past, AI has no place in production and creativity in anime/manga industries, it'll ruin creativity and will turn anime and manga very lame and very mediocre, I saw this video from NHK and that really really left me scared for this industry.
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Rosiero



Joined: 05 Jun 2013
Posts: 127
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 1:16 pm Reply with quote
You need AI to maintain productivity?

No. You need to make less and pay more. The medium of anime has been oversaturated with bland, carbon copy shows for years. If you can't handle the production speed, SLOW THE HELL DOWN. Quality over quantity
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funkfoot



Joined: 22 Feb 2023
Posts: 86
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 1:44 pm Reply with quote
I saw a similar video with iconic seiyuu like Masako Nozawa lending their voices to AI. For manga artists and voice actors this does seem like it could be a way to help them keep drawing and acting despite age.

As a fan I've only really experienced AI through fan works. Ever since AI became a thing I've seen tons of art of some of the more obscure anime girls I like explode in popularity. Before you would only see a few drawings every months if you were lucky but now I swear there's dozens of batches from dedicated fanboys every week. Some of them getting more art made of them in the past year than the entire last 10 years combined. It's pretty crazy (in a good way)
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alabamabeachmouse



Joined: 30 May 2023
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 1:54 pm Reply with quote
Rosiero wrote:
You need AI to maintain productivity?

No. You need to make less and pay more. The medium of anime has been oversaturated with bland, carbon copy shows for years. If you can't handle the production speed, SLOW THE HELL DOWN. Quality over quantity


The video was about a 70 year old man who wanted to keep making manga until the day he died and lamenting how his physical body is failing him. Specifically mentioning that if this technology can let him draw for another 10 years rather than just 5 he would be happy. Put aside whatever kneejerk reaction you have against AI and try to look at it from his perspective and how it can benefit individual people rather than cynical statements about an entire industry that has nothing to do with this dude.
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FishLion



Joined: 24 Jan 2024
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 2:25 pm Reply with quote
alabamabeachmouse wrote:
The video was about a 70 year old man who wanted to keep making manga until the day he died and lamenting how his physical body is failing him. Specifically mentioning that if this technology can let him draw for another 10 years rather than just 5 he would be happy. Put aside whatever kneejerk reaction you have against AI and try to look at it from his perspective and how it can benefit individual people rather than cynical statements about an entire industry that has nothing to do with this dude.


That dude is part of the industry, if we let people use AI to sell work when they can't keep up themselves then we are saying it's okay to automate all assistant work, him having physical challenges doesn't change the fact that he is using AI powered by stolen labor to replace work he can't do. I'm not going to pretend it's cool we built a very complicated art stealing machine because one person keeps drawing, what about all the comic artists that will never have a career because AI took their chance to participate in the industry as an assistant? How many young up and comers are going to be thrown under the bus to let people continue working when they can't afford assistants?

I don't care how much an individual benefits, this one dude is only benefiting so they can sell their schlock to companies and make us swallow AI produced work when it isn't necessary to help some old man. This one dude benefiting has nothing to do with the fact that they aren't on a mission to help people, they are on a mission to squeeze every red cent out of their artists by making them do even more with a smaller team. That is the purpose of the marketing video, to make you imagine an old man being helped and not a boardroom of people firing inbetweeners that might have been part of the industry.
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#ChewyBike



Joined: 09 Oct 2024
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2024 7:29 pm Reply with quote
If the anime industry wants to devalue their labour down to nothing, then nothing is exactly how much I am going to pay for their media.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14893
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 5:05 am Reply with quote
It's 2D cel --> 3D digital all over again
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