Like it or not, AI is a hot topic right now. Need to send a follow-up email for that job interview? ChatGPT has your back. Can’t make that art piece in time for your final? Plug some ideas into Midjourney and behold, your new art project. Nothing has been spared the wrath of computers, including anime. But is AI anime really as bad as everyone says? At this point in the AI lifespan, yes – it is that bad. Thankfully, it has been used very sparingly in anything you would actually watch, so for now, sit back, relax and watch YouTubers attempt to use the AI tools to generate anime images and recreate manga.
One of the few instances of AI being used in anime was earlier this year. Netflix Japan blamed staffing shortages for their partial use of AI in The Dog and The Boy, a short film released on January 31. And let me tell you, saying fans weren’t happy about it is an understatement.
The exact words used to describe this endeavor included descriptive words such as ‘foul,’ ‘massive yikes,’ and ‘shameful.’ The short was only three minutes long, but the impact has lasted up to this day. For the short, anime producer Wit Studios decided to partner with the AI development company Rinna. The entirety of the backdrop for this short was produced with Rinna’s AI technology.
That seems harmless, right? It’s not like they used AI to produce the background for a full series or feature-length film. In fact, Netflix Japan was proud of what they did, tweeting about how this was an experimental effort to help the anime industry as they announced the release of the short. Even though the background itself is by no means a ‘massive yikes’ to behold, Netflix Japan still didn’t get the kudos they were looking for.
This probably comes down to a matter of principle. For a long time, anime illustrators have been overworked and underpaid, so this seems to be an instance of trying to fix the problem in a way that doesn’t entail compensating the illustrators. Sure, you could give them the benefit of the doubt by assuming that there were literally no illustrators who wanted to work on this project, but that seems unlikely. Although sketches from artists were used for the AI to work from, there’s no information about which artists contributed to the film and if they were compensated.
The atrocities committed against anime don’t stop there. Earlier this year, an LA-based company decided to create a seven-minute film that was entirely created by AI. Corridor Digital likes to refer to their creation as anime, though myself and others disagree. Can something be an anime if it wasn’t animated? I think not. Rock, Paper, Scissors used AI to draw over live actors for their creations, and this short enraged the illustration and anime community even more than The Dog and The Boy did. Also, if you take the time to halfway watch this little film like I did, you’ll find that the “animation” actually doesn’t resemble typical anime illustrations at all.
Let’s take a step back and stop this right now. Honestly, is nothing sacred anymore? I vote we leave the AI-generated anime to the YouTubers because at least that’s entertaining to watch. Thankfully, one YouTuber, ButterJaffa, created an anime from ChatGPT so we don’t have to. Was it horrible and off-base? Not entirely. After showing a bit of the inner workings of ChatGPT with creating a new Dragon Ball Z story, ButterJaffa shows us a short that he created with nothing but, yep you guessed it, AI. He asked the AI to create something similar to Demon Slayer and only prompted it with a few images. What was spat out was scarily similar and even in Japanese. However, this doesn’t change my mind about AI anime. At least when YouTubers generate these shorts, illustrators aren’t losing their livelihoods.
Just to really footstomp that AI cannot create what humans can, and I’ll be honest, ButterJaffa inspired me, I decided to play around with ChatGPT myself. I prompted ChatGPT with “write me a script for Spy X Family where Loid isn’t a spy” and it definitely seem like something that would actually appear in the anime.
AI can’t generate the unique ideas that our manga authors, anime scriptwriters, and illustrators can. Thank you, Tatsuya Endo for not starting Spy X Family with this corny opening.
To sum up everything I witnessed today, yes, AI anime really is that bad, but maybe that’ll change in a few years when AI has had some time to learn.
