In the April 29, 2023 article, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that
a group of creative artists met with government official to discuss
legal protections from generative artificial intelligence (AI)
tools such as ChatGPT, as Japanese regulations are considered to be
the loosest among advanced nations.1 Particularly,
artistic works can be used to "train" AI models with
almost no conditions in Japan, which raises concerns among
illustrators including manga artists, musicians, and other
creatives. In the meeting, the group told the official that using
copyrighted material to train AI without permission was
"having a negative impact" on their activities.
Additionally, the group raised other issues that Article 30-4 of
the Copyright Law, which permits the use of a copyrighted work for
machine learning, does not include procedures for gaining
permission in advance from copyright holders. The article permits
the use of copyrighted material such as text and images to
