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On one hand, while a number of animators and staff members from the anime industry have sternly spoken against the use of AI, anime directors Keiichi Hara and Tomohisa Taguchi, who are veterans in their own right, had an entirely different opinion regarding it.
As reported by Full Frontal, both Hara and Taguchi, who were talking at a panel at this year’s Annecy Festival, believed that AI, which doesn’t complain, get tired or sleep, could be a good tool to replace “lazy animators” and do the work in their place.
This opinion has stirred various sections of fandom, who believed that the directors shouldn’t have made such a comment in light of the recent developments.
Hara was talking about the difficulties of making animated feature films, when the topic shifted to lazy animators “who are being paid without putting in the work that’s expected of them.”
Equating them to leeches, Hara pointed out that there was a good share of such mediocre animators who took part in productions but didn’t do the work up to standards. He also lamented the large number of anime productions that go on simultaneously, eventually leading to a scarcity of great animators.
“There are too many productions going on at once compared to the number of truly talented individuals, so the ‘leeches’ get to switch from studio to studio to keep cashing in paychecks,” Hara said.
He realized the existence of such an issue while working on his latest movie Lonely Castle In The Mirror. The director said he even knew someone who didn’t do any work for a whole year after the initial meetings.
Later, when the directors were quizzed about the use of AI in Animation Production, Taguchi chimed in saying that AI could be great tool to solve the problem that was highlighted by Hara, if the technology advances.
Hara too agreed with Taguchi, saying that AI should replace these lazy animators and do the work in their place. He also added that a time might come come when AI, which doesn’t complain, doesn’t get tired and doesn’t sleep, would replace humans.
Keiichi Hara is know for directing and working on the Crayon Shin-Chan franchise and also for helming movies such as Summer Days with Coo and Colorful. His latest film, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, was being presented at Annecy Festival this year.
Tomohisa Taguchi too has quite the portfolio directing Akudama Drive and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War recently. His latest movie The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes won the Paul Grimault Award at the Annecy Festival this year.
Source: Full Frontal
