Japan Trains AI to Hunt and Erase Pirated Manga

Japan is launching a new offensive against online manga piracy. Its strategy: using artificial intelligence (AI) to find and remove illegally translated copies. The government-backed program will train AI models to recognize specific manga artwork. The systems will then scan the internet for these images. When the AI finds pirated versions, it can automatically issue takedown requests to the hosting websites. A key target is "scanlation" sites. These sites upload scans of official Japanese manga and add unauthorized translations. This piracy costs the industry an estimated 1 trillion yen ($6.5 billion) annually. Officials say current manual reporting is too slow to stop the spread. They hope the AI will work at the speed and scale of the internet itself. The project is a collaboration between Japan's content industry and a national research institute. If successful, it could become a major new tool for global copyright enforcement.