Latest news with #RyoSanada
Asahi Shimbun
4 days ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Media renews criticism of AI firms ignoring copyright laws
The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, based in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, includes more than 100 member newspapers and broadcasters from across the nation. (Ryo Sanada) A major Japanese mass media association is accusing artificial intelligence companies of violating copyright protections by collecting, using and regurgitating information scraped from news articles after explicitly being denied permission to do so. In a statement released June 4, the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association called on AI companies to comply with existing rules, and urged the government to establish and enforce systems to protect content creators and uphold intellectual property rights. In response to the recent rise of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and other AI technology, many news organizations in Japan have set their websites to explicitly prohibit the use of their content by generative AI. Nevertheless, the association states there have been confirmed instances of AI firms ignoring these restrictions and unlawfully using association members' content—including as clear references in RAG systems. Citing the Cultural Affairs Agency's 2024 guidance on AI and copyright, the association noted that such unauthorized use likely constitutes copyright infringement. RAG systems, which use generative AI to search the web for information and generate responses to user questions, have seen a massive boom in popularity. However, this practice has raised concerns about a growing trend known as 'zero-click search,' where users read only the AI-generated responses without clicking through to the original news sources of the information. Media groups warn that, in addition to potentially generating misinformation, this can throttle traffic to legitimate news sites and ultimately threaten the sustainability of professional journalism. The association's statement described the practice as 'freeriding on news content' and warned that undermining news organizations could 'threaten the public's right to know.'
Asahi Shimbun
21-04-2025
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
Online job brokers ban requests to create political videos
Two major online staffing agencies have banned requests recruiting workers to create political videos due to concerns such acts might violate the Public Offices Election Law. That law bans payment of money to anyone involved in election activities and the online requests would pay workers to create the short videos and could be considered a vote-buying act. Such videos became the focus of attention in last year's Hyogo and Tokyo gubernatorial elections because of concerns that they influenced the outcomes. The two Tokyo-based companies are CrowdWorks Inc. and coconala inc. Short political videos are created by editing and combining clips of campaign speeches and news conference appearances, inserting titles and other information for dispersal through social media and YouTube. Advertising revenue can be earned depending on the number of views on YouTube so some people have posted such videos to make money. CrowdWorks revised its guidelines as of March 14. The old guidelines banned any activity that may violate laws or ordinances. Until now, election activities were covered by that guideline, but the new version also includes political activities. A company official said the new activity was included because of difficulty in differentiating between election and political activities. The company has already deleted a number of requests seeking people willing to create short political videos. Coconala had banned acts that provided information, including political ideology. But a clearer definition will be included because company officials have come across requests for job seekers that might violate the Public Offices Election Law. A company official said a specialized team would be set up to delete or issue warnings about job requests that are egregious attempts to diminish or improve the political image of specific office holders, candidates or political parties. Another major online job brokering company, Lancers Inc., bans requests for workers to handle any job related to elections, but declined to confirm if any new guidelines would be added. Masahito Tadano, a constitutional law professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, said the moves by the two companies might have an effect in the coming months with the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election set for June and the Upper House election scheduled for July. (This article was written by Ryo Sanada and Ryota Goto.)
