Netflix Is Getting Blasted for Using AI Art in an Anime Instead of Hiring Artists

Critics say there's no labour shortage, just a shortage of companies willing to pay for labour.

Mashable SEA Feb. 2, 2023

Netflix Is Getting Blasted for Using AI Art in an Anime Instead of Hiring Artists

Netflix is getting thoroughly blasted on social media for using artificial intelligence to make an anime rather than paying actual human artists. Which, fair.

Released by Netflix this week, The Dog & The Boy is a three-minute sci-fi anime short about a kid whose robot dog waits for him when he goes off to war. It isn't a unique story, but what sets this anime apart is that its background art was generated using AI rather than drawn by humans.

According to images shown during The Dog & The Boy's credits, a human would draw a relatively rough layout of what they wanted by hand. This image was then put through an AI art generator a few times, before finally being revised by hand to create the final artwork that was used in the anime.

Exactly who it was that did this work is unclear, as The Dog & The Boy doesn't credit them by name. Instead, it simply lists its background designer as "AI (+Human)." It does, however, list Rinna Co., Lt. as its AI development company.

In a tweet from Netflix Japan, the company reportedly characterised its use of AI art generation in The Dog & The Boy's production as an experiment intended to ease an alleged labour shortage in the anime industry. This has caused a swift and angry response from Twitter users, who contend that there isn't a labour shortage — just a shortage of companies willing to provide decent working conditions and a living wage. The median average income for top anime talent in 2019 was reportedly just US$36,000, while those lower down can earn as little as US$200 per month.

Netflix Japan's post now has thousands of quote retweets and replies, with the general consensus being that its use of AI art generation to replace human artists is, to use polite language, awful. AI art generation has been a contentious issue in recent months, with artists concerned about issues of copyright, theft, and job losses. Unfortunately, Netflix's latest move seems to have proven these fears well-founded.

The potential repercussions of Netflix's AI experiment feel even more ominous considering its American studio Netflix Animation laid off 30 employees last September in a bid to streamline production.

Mashable has reached out to Netflix for comment.

The Dog & The Boy was produced by the Netflix Anime Creators' Base, while anime studios Production I.G and Wit Studio provided support. Described as a "community space" at the time of its 2021 launch, the Netflix Anime Creators' Base was initially intended to strengthen Netflix's anime offerings by developing concept art to support studios in pre-production.

"From this space, we want to promote best practices and high production standards, to empower creators with the necessary tools and resources of anime production over time," Netflix said at the time.

Last year it was reported that Netflix's Japanese division failed to declare ?1.2 billion (US$9.3 million) in profit over three years. As a result, Netflix was hit with around ?300 million (US$2.3 million) in additional taxes, including on the amount that the company hadn't initially disclosed.

Labour shortage or not, it certainly sounds as though Netflix has more than enough resources to hire a couple of background artists, pay them a decent wage, and actually list them by name in the credits.