Anime producer Taiki Sakurai (Netflix Chief Anime Producer from 2017–2023) discussed artificial intelligence at the IT and electronics trade show CEATEC’s The AI Agent Industrial Revolution: Unlocking Japan’s Potential event in October. Joined by Aya Zook (Japan Commercial Head at Uber AI Solutions) and Shinichiro Isago (CEO at Gen-AX Corp.), Sakurai spoke about his expectation of AI’s potential in his own industry: the anime industry (via Internet Watch).
“When it comes to attitudes towards AI, reactions vary quite a bit depending on the industry, with the manga industry strongly allergic,” Sakurai says. “Once a manga or illustration is printed, there is a real possibility that it could be replaced by AI on the spot. In the case of anime, even if it’s just pictures, it needs to be turned into a video, and at the moment, outputting a video is still a high hurdle.“
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“There are also pessimistic voices towards AI from anime fans, saying, ‘It’s inhumane for humans to be replaced by machines!’ But for those who create the anime, isn’t it inhumane to draw 100,000 pictures all by hand? With the declining birthrate meaning fewer people are entering the anime industry, there are even dark jokes about how, in an era where everything has been replaced by AI, there will be no one left in the production studios.“
Sakurai spoke on his time at Netflix too; The Dog & The Boy, of which Sakurai was a producer, had been heavily panned by audiences in part due to its use of AI. He revealed that the backlash prompted senior figures at Netflix to summon him on multiple occasions to explain the project. “Ultimately, I wasn’t punished; there was actually a second installment. However, the second one’s announcement was delayed. I couldn’t release it back then,” he added.
The Dog & The Boy had been produced by using prompts to generate images, selecting the one that was closest to the one they had in mind, and then correcting them by hand. Sakurai, who exited Netflix and has now founded Salamander Pictures, an anime planning and production company, shared his and the company’s new approach to AI.
He shared that Salamander Pictures was experimenting with concept artist Kenichiro Tomiyasu (Final Fantasy, SILENT HILL f), having developed an AI model trained on his drawings. Tomiyasu would provide a doodle, in which the AI would clean up the drawing. The model produces around 100 patterns, Sakurai says, and Tomiyasu selects the image closest to his style. Sakurai says the advantage of this workflow is that the human draws from “0 to 1,” and the AI takes this from 1 to 9. He adds that the model will be destroyed once the work is completed, mitigating against Tomiyasu’s style being misused. Internet Watch’s original article contains images of how Sakurai proposes an AI model can generate backgrounds from sketches.
It’s not the first time that Sakurai has proposed AI as a solution to perceived problems in the anime industry. In 2023, Sakurai told attendees at a RIETI (Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry) talk that anime could reduce budgets and breakeven points by incorporating AI. He estimates that this would reduce the number of production staff members from 700-800 people to 100 people, and development times from 3 years to 1 year. He spoke of the need for transparency to assure creators that their work won’t be misused. He also questioned whether animators needed to worry about a potential decline in their skills if AI takes over responsibilities, sharing an anecdote:
“For example, when I was a university student, I was writing a paper on a computer, and I remember my grandmother getting angry and saying, ‘If you write on something like that, your handwriting will get worse!’ Of course, she was right—my handwriting is terrible, and it feels like it’s getting worse every year. But how essential is being able to write beautifully? I think everyone would agree now that there’s room for debate. Obviously, just being able to type on a computer doesn’t make you a great novelist or screenwriter.“
Sakurai added that the difference between Japan and overseas is that Japan still relies on the skills of individual craftsmen and hasn’t been able to break away from that. Some of his proposed solutions to improve the anime industry and animator conditions include AI, better overseas distribution efforts, governmental support, and a means of attracting overseas creators to Japan; Salamander Pictures runs a series on its YouTube channel where it interviews overseas creators working in the anime industry.
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Other companies are running experiments to incorporate AI into anime production. AI Mage, whose partners include mentors Takeshi Natsuno (KADOKAWA CEO, read here how KADOKAWA is exploring AI in anime) and GREE Entertainment’s Kosuke Shukuwa (the GREE Group’s manga production and distribution DADAN.inc lists AI in its localization workflow), is working with anime studio OLM Digital to develop AI tools for anime. OLM Digital worked on CG operations for The Apothecary Diaries, as well as Inazuma Eleven and Pokémon properties.
AI Mage recently shared that it had raised 170 million yen from Genesia Ventures and Headline Japan; it also announced the release of its AI-supported anime production supervision platform.
Creator’s X, which owns two studios using AI in their workflows (and whom Anime Corner revealed in February had filed trademark registration applications for “AI アニメーション” (“AI Animation”) and “AI アニメ” (“AI Anime”)), recently shared that it has raised a total of 1.9 billion yen (~$12 million), which has been used for AI development costs and the recent acquisition of Gaina (Grendizer U, Baban Baban Ban Vampire, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting (alongside studio feel.)). Gaina has since been renamed BENTEN Film, which will oversee the animation production of Petals of Reincarnation (2026). As of October 2025, Creator’s X’s trademark application is under live examination.
Anime Corner recently interviewed Kasagi Labo CEO Kendrick Wong, who also revealed how the company is using AI in its workflow.
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Source: Internet Watch
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