• It’s going to get even tougher to watch free anime online as Japan is set to use AI to go after streaming pirates.
• The Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs says it will invest $2 million in an AI system that can detect pirated content online.
• This system is said to even be able to detect the type of advertising and layout pirate sites use to track them down and kill them.

The Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs has embarked on a new campaign to use AI to stop pirates who watch anime and manga on the myriad “free” websites that post such content without permission.

According to a report from NHK (Japanese), the agency will invest $2 million or 300 million Yen to build a detection system that uses AI to find when images and other content are published online without permission. It said that Japan’s economy loses out on a whopping $13 billion every year from anime and manga pirates sharing content illegally.

It goes beyond AI flagging and the final system will be able to recognise a pirate site just by the layout.

“Specifically, the Agency will develop a system that automatically detects pirated sites by having AI learn information such as the layout and advertisements of pirated sites, and images of content provided by publishers, and will also aim to build a system that allows rights holders to smoothly apply for the removal of detected content,” the report reads.

“There are limitations to finding pirated sites with the human eye, as it takes time and cost. We would like to develop effective countermeasures to reduce pirated sites and protect rights holders,” the agency said.

The agency hasn’t shared that it will be prosecuting anyone who goes to watch free anime online, but rather that these sites will be identified and then pulled off the internet.

If the system is as robust as is planned, it could completely change the landscape for anime piracy online – which is rife.

There are hundreds of popular anime and manga piracy sites available online, most of which can be easily found using Google. Some of these sites see hundreds of millions of visits per month.

In July, a number of law enforcement organisations took down Animeflix, a popular website, and even went after the team responsible for the uploading of content.

Online content piracy is also highly popular in Africa, with just five major African territories making 17.4 million visits to the top 10 piracy sites in under one month, and that was in 2021 per MultiChoice. This number is likely even higher.

While we will never see a future without any internet piracy, the streaming and convenience that many have grown used to may be in danger if campaigns like that launched by the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs continue becoming commonplace.

Instead, watchers will have to bite the bullet and pay for Crunchyroll or Netflix for their anime fix. Also, manga readers please just buy the books. Mangaka are struggling enough as it is. You can just subscribe to Shounen Jump.

[Image – Steam]