The use of generative artificial intelligence is increasingly causing legal discussions, which is why an official committee in Japan has now dealt with the “protection of votes”. We summarize.
Government considers protecting votes
Although the Japanese Ministry of Justice’s expert panel did not make any concrete decisions at its first meeting, it concluded that “Rights to your own voice” can be classified in a similar category to personal and exploitation rights.
In this context, the coming meetings will examine whether and to what extent existing laws are applicable to relevant cases.
In addition, it was emphasized that there would be a lot of legal effort, especially for voice actors and other affected parties, if they wanted to enforce their rights individually – a problem that would be further exacerbated by the rapid development of the diverse AI technologies.
Publication of the results is planned for summer 2026. We will of course keep you updated as usual.
Regardless, resistance to the use of artificial intelligence is increasing within the voice acting industry, so the “No More Unauthorized Generative AI” initiative was founded in 2024.
In this country, the issue came into the media’s spotlight at the beginning of the year due to the boycott of Netflix by dubbing artists.
More on the topic:
Via The Asahi Shimbun
© Hajime Isayama, KODANSHA/“ATTACK ON TITAN” Production Committee