ALBAWABA - As AI-generated slop floods social media after Sora 2's release, the Japanese government has recently made a formal request, asking OpenAI to refrain from allowing generative content featuring popular anime and manga characters due to concerns over copyright infringement.
After Sora 2 dropped, people started generating short videos of popular video game and anime characters from popular Japanese media, such as One Piece, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mario, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, and many more. Most videos would then drop in shorts format across several social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
The government stated that continued violations may result in Japan taking legal action against OpenAI.
Japan calls for OpenAI's Sora 2 to keep its hands off anime
According to news outlet ITMedia, Japanese Minister of State for Intellectual Property Strategy Minoru Kiuchi revealed that the Japanese government made a formal request to Sam Altman's OpenAI regarding the issue at hand.
Kiuchi said, "Anime and manga are irreplaceable treasures that we can be proud of around the world," and added, "We have requested OpenAI not to engage in any actions that could constitute copyright infringement."
Japanese politician Akihisa Shiozaki recently said in a blog post, "We've been defeated. If things continue like this, Japan's content industry is in danger."
He added, "When I tried entering a prompt into Sora 2, it generated a succession of images of popular anime characters with such high quality that it was indistinguishable from the real thing."
Japan implemented the "AI Promotion Act" in September 2025, which aims to make it the most "AI-friendly country." However, the act also set some boundaries to prevent copyright infringement. Additionally, the act seeks to further develop Japan's socio-economic factors, as reported by IGN.
Growing concerns over AI's effect on the entertainment industry
In reference to the issue at hand, OpenAI also recently sparked outrage among artists and anime fans when it let users generate photos of themselves inspired by Studio Ghibli's iconic art style, with many describing it as "disrespectful" to legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
The trend went viral, leading to a flood of posts of people AI-generating themselves into Studio Ghibli characters.
The debate over whether AI should generate art has been a hot topic on social media, with many artists and netizens deeming it a threat and an insult to human creativity.
Moreover, many view the idea of a robot replacing human creativity as concerning. Why?
Naegiko (X/ Twitter)/ Sora 2 (OpenAI)
Artists spend years perfecting their craft by studying human anatomy, perspective, and other aspects. Many also get higher education to pursue a career in art.
AI models can't generate images without having access to millions of artists' works at their disposal. For example, individuals could feed an AI model an illustration from any artist and ask it to generate an artwork similar to theirs without their consent.
The growing wave of layoffs in the gaming and animation industries is another ongoing concern, and the rise of AI models like OpenAI's Sora 2 and Google's Nano Banana will stem more copyright issues if the law doesn't implement proper measures.
