One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda dropped a bomb before Christmas

https://blog.livedoor.jp/isaacalwin1219/archives/35692317.html

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda dropped a bomb before Christmas with an AI-created song that has served to stoke the flames of controversy on AI creations once again, with Japanese fans arguing from both sides.

The song, named ‘Yo-Ho-Ho Oretachi Kaizoku,' was a short experiment by Oda that was passed off to his managers, who had it posted on the One Piece official account. While not the first time Oda has dabbled with AI, the song drew much ire from people overseas, dismayed at one of the greatest mangakas seemingly in favor of adopting the technology.

On the Japanese side of Twitter, people were much less reactionary to Oda's post. Defenders argued that Oda was simply out of touch with the opinionated views and ethics of AI, being in his 50s with a packed manga schedule. Some also pointed out the supposed hypocrisy of Westerners, with one person writing that “[he] could only laugh ironically knowing that around 80% of the overseas people read early leaks of Jump anyway, so they had no right speaking about copyright”.

There was also pushback against the personal attacks on Oda's character, with some saying that the personal attacks were just discrediting Oda's achievements and weakening public favor for the side opposed to AI.

Meanwhile, the side opposed to AI works defended Western criticism of Oda, with one purporting that the reason for the lukewarm opposition to Oda's work in Japan was that Japan wasn't as familiar with the ethical pitfalls of AI as the West.

Oda isn't the only mangaka dabbling with the technology. Mangaka-turned-politician Akamatsu Ken (Love Hina, Negima!) has also been campaigning in favor of the technology with proper monitoring and profit returns for dataset providers, although his opinions have also drawn the ire of the anti-AI crowd.