A Japanese trade organisation representing major publishers, notably including Studio Ghibli, has sent a strong letter to Sam Altman-led OpenAI, demanding the company refrain from using Japanese copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence systems.
The letter, sent on October 27 by the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), specifically asks OpenAI to cease using their animated content for training its new Sora 2 AI video generation platform.
Allegations of copyright infringement
CODA claims that the outputs generated by Sora 2 bear a close resemblance to existing Japanese content and images.
The letter states:
"CODA has confirmed that a large portion of content produced by Sora 2 closely resembles Japanese content or images. CODA has determined that this is the result of using Japanese content as machine learning data. In cases, as with Sora 2, where specific copyrighted works are reproduced or similarly generated as outputs, CODA considers that the act of replication during the machine learning process may constitute copyright infringement".
The organisation also highlighted a critical conflict: OpenAI’s existing opt-out system for copyright holders violates Japan’s copyright-infringement laws. CODA clarified that under Japanese law, 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".
Studio Ghibli's history with AI
The inclusion of Studio Ghibli in the demand comes after previous controversial uses of AI models. In March of this year, an update to OpenAI’s image generator via ChatGPT-4o allowed users to create images explicitly in the distinctive style of Ghibli’s award-winning animated titles, such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro.
This controversy is deepened by the past sentiments of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. An old interview clip of the celebrated director commenting on AI-generated animation recently went viral, in which he expressed profound disapproval:
“I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself”.
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