Netflix makes Anime using AI: Is it really the solution to Animator Labor shortage in Japan?

The recent surge in the internet seems to be an upheaval in the Anime fandom. We fan sure are picky. When the industry first introduced CGI 3D animation with works such as God Eater, we hated it. Now a Netflix AI Anime is taking the scoop and it justifies the same using the Labor Shortage in Japan?

What’s Netflix Japan cooking?

Now Netflix Japan came up with this recent post on Twitter. They mention that they used Artificial Intelligence to come up with the background animations upon which the new anime will be based on.

The new upcoming Netflix announced Anime is called Dog & The Boy. And it will supposedly use Artificial Intelligence-generated artwork. The technology will aid the labor shortage faced by Japan tremendously.

Netflix アニメ・クリエイターズ・ベース×技術開発のrinna株式会社×WIT STUDIOによる共同プロジェクトアニメ『犬と少年』のショートムービー。

人手不足のアニメ業界を補助する実験的な取り組みとして、3分間の映像全カットの背景画に画像生成技術を活用！ pic.twitter.com/GYuWONSqlJ

— Netflix Japan | ネットフリックス (@NetflixJP) January 31, 2023

Is Netflix AI Anime the answer to Labor Shortage in Japan?

The labor shortage in Japan is not new news. Multiple online reports lay scattered around about how less the entry-level animators are paid in Japan. One may have already gotten a gist of this out of the sheer amount of memes that are dedicated to Mappa.

An example to get the privileged a glimpse of the Animator shortage in Japan

1. To explain this one further, Mappa lately seems to have taken things way over their head. Although they do not seem to be holding back in the least. It does feel tumultuous for Mappa to be doing Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Vinland Saga Season 2, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 3, and One Punch Man Season 3 back-to-back.
2. With all that the fans are surging the internet once again with memes on just how bad Mappa animators are going through.

Stop using AI and literally PAY THE ANIMATORS AND VAs AND OTHER ARTISTS MORE!

It’s literally that simple for a multi-million dollar corporation. 🙄

— 🎵 Muffin Tunes 🎵 (@Muffin_Tunes) February 2, 2023

But the harsh reality is that this is not limited to Mappa alone. Animators in Japan earn way less than animators in the US do. Couple this with extra added work hours. The work culture in Japan is anyway life-dragging, to begin with.

How Netflix is justifying the AI made Anime

You can't stop AI art. You know why artists are still needed, because they can't take client notes. You get a great first impression, but the details are all wrong. Will it get better yes, but until it's fully conscious and can fix specific notes from the client, it will be ok.

— CP3O (@cpaek72) February 4, 2023

“As an experimental effort to help the anime industry, which has a labor shortage, we used image generation technology for the background images of all three-minute video cuts,” Said Netflix Japan.

The Twitter post ever since has garnered huge responses from the fans. Primarily criticism is driven by the integrity of AI-Generated art.

Won’t Netflix’s AI Anime not degenerate the shortage problem further?

One of the key things to notice here is that even if AI is introduced to Animation out of the sheer goodwill of ‘labor shortage’, it feels likely that such a maneuver will only lead to further degradation of the industry.

I know a ton of animators looking for work if you guys are struggling to find them (are you looking very hard?)

— DJ Fresh (@DJFreshUK) February 1, 2023

Because once companies get in bed with AI, there’s a huge chance that most work will be outsourced to computing systems. Although just how much AI can be incorporated within the animation industry is still up for speculation.

Concluding

If the industry in itself allows AI to take over, the world will only see the perishing of most animator jobs. That would solve the labor shortage (if it proceeds in the said way) but it may come at the cost of the extinction of human art in itself. The ‘human touch’ will more or less be gone.

Although one can always debate if the overworked animators are not already robots of humans.