An anti-piracy group representing major Japanese video game developers such as Square Enix, FromSoftware, and Bandai Namco issued the warning. OpenAIAlleging that OpenAI may have violated copyright. This claim is just one of many that have hit AI and LLM companies like OpenAI recently.
OpenAI is responsible for creating AI/LLM services such as ChatGPT and the Sora 2 video generator. In recent times, there have been criticisms and concerns about the materials these services are trained on and whether OpenAI has the legal right to use them. Now, some Japanese game developers seem to be producing content similar to their own Sora 2 video generator.
OpenAI faces allegations of copyright infringement from Japan
An anti-piracy organization called Japan's Content Overseas Distribution Association, or CODA, has written to OpenAI to stop using its members' content to train AI models. CODA says it has “confirmed” that a “large portion” of the content produced by OpenAI's Sora 2 is similar to existing Japanese content, and that CODA considers the act of “replication during the machine learning process” to be a potential copyright infringement. CODA represents several Japanese media companies, including game developers Square Enix, Bandai Namco, and From Software, as well as anime companies such as Animelex and Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli was particularly the subject of a recent AI art trend that recreated user images uploaded to the Studio Ghibli artwork.
CODA points out that OpenAI has an opt-out system, but it does not comply with Japanese copyright law. While the United States has fair use laws, which often allow existing content to be used as long as it is used transformatively, Japan does not. Instead, permission must be sought in advance, which OpenAI allegedly did not seek before using copyrighted Japanese works as training material. As a result, CODA is specifically requesting that the groups it represents not use their content for machine learning without permission, and requests a response from OpenAI regarding copyright infringement related to Sora 2.
Currently, OpenAI has not issued a public response to the claims. The company already has a lot on its plate with the recent rollout of the Sora 2 video generator and major deals with companies like Amazon. However, it has faced a lot of backlash, with publications such as the New York Times, writers' groups, and George R.R. Martin suing or threatening to sue for similar claims. On the other hand, some game developers have already chosen to use AI within game development, such as EA.
Source: CODA
