Tokyo cries foul over Sora slop abusing 'irreplaceable treasures' of anime, manga - oh, and copyright law

OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generator has gone viral, particularly among users churning out anime that looks suspiciously like Studio Ghibli and other copyrighted works. Alarmed by the threat to one of its prized cultural exports, Japan has reportedly lodged a formal request that the American firm knock it off.

Japanese Minister of State for Intellectual Property Strategy Minoru Kiuchi revealed that the government made a formal request to OpenAI through the Cabinet Office's IP Strategy Promotion Secretariat last week during a press conference, as reported by Japanese media. 

"Anime and manga are irreplaceable treasures that we can be proud of around the world," Kiuchi said last week, according to Japanese tech news outlet ITMedia. "We have requested OpenAI not to engage in any actions that could constitute copyright infringement."

For those who remain blissfully unaware of the copyright-headache machine that is Sora 2, OpenAI released its latest and ...