3 minutes of film made with AI technology makes Japanese anime industry scared

Netflix recently released a 3-minute animated film called The Dog and the Boy, made with AI technology, on the company's YouTube channel for the Japanese market.

The film tells the story of a robot dog and its companion. Due to war, the two were separated, and only when the man was old did they reunite.

What makes this film special is that the entire background image, a scene of the Japanese countryside changing seasons, was completed by AI. Netflix has not announced the solution or the data input, but according to the behind-the-scenes footage, the general layout of the background had to be created in advance for the computer to work on.

Netflix said the film is an experiment to support the anime industry, which is lacking in human resources.

Netflix has not yet revealed how their solution was implemented, with what data input. According to the behind-the-scenes video, the general layout of the background needs to be created first for the computer to work on.

The AI ​​technology used by Rinna, a Japanese artificial intelligence startup, can draw backgrounds at a lower cost than human artists, allowing animators to save time and effort on more complex elements that only humans can do.

However, this also means that this AI is threatening the jobs of background artists. Therefore, after this animated film was announced, many fans and artists reacted, criticized the producer and the hashtag #SupportHumanArtists was responded on social networks.

In the anime industry, background artists are often underrated as their contribution plays a major part in the look of the final work.

They worked hard to keep up with industry demands but couldn't compete with AI that could draw 600 scenes a day.

Netflix has not yet made an official response to this incident.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 16 January 2025