A homeless philosopher and a robotic bird team up to solve crime
February 27, 2020 10:43 AM Subscribe
An AI program has learned the storytelling and art style of the legendary "God of Manga" mangaka Osamu Tezuka to create a completely original manga. Using 65 volumes of Tezuka's classic works, such as Black Jack and Phoenix, as its training set, the AI generated the plots, character bios, and character designs for the eponymous "Paidon",the story of a homeless philosopher named Paidon that has turned his back on society to solve criminal cases with his robotic bird partner, Apollo, in 2030 era Tokyo. The manga, which was secondarily illustrated and polished for publication by human artists, was released today in Kodansha's weekly manga serial Morning with a sequel already in the works.
The inspiration for the project came from the simple question “If Osamu Tezuka were still alive and creating his manga, what would he make?”
Flash memory card producers Kioxia Holdings Corp and Tezuka Productions partnered with AI and computer engineering scholar and professor Satoshi Kurihara of Keio University for the project. As if to address growing fears surrounding the rapid advancement of AI technology, Kurihara
(who has, among many other projects, conducted research on story plot auto-generation in large-scale video games, adaptive AI in fighting video games, and immersive experiences in Virtual Reality simulation) stated "Many people are worried about AI, but in our project, it can support humans, not be a threat to replace us."
Simiarly, Makoto Tezuka, the late author's son spoke positively in a press conference on the potential of AI generated media, stating "I always felt sad whenever Osamu Tezuka fans said they could no longer enjoy his new work. AI creating his new work...that's exactly the kind of (technologically advanced) world depicted in Tezuka's manga...[I hope] this technology will be applied to the training of young manga artists and also contribute to spreading the unique culture of Japanese manga to the world."
Other recent (potentially more horrifying) AI adaptions of beloved comics include Batman and Garfield.
The inspiration for the project came from the simple question “If Osamu Tezuka were still alive and creating his manga, what would he make?”
Flash memory card producers Kioxia Holdings Corp and Tezuka Productions partnered with AI and computer engineering scholar and professor Satoshi Kurihara of Keio University for the project. As if to address growing fears surrounding the rapid advancement of AI technology, Kurihara
(who has, among many other projects, conducted research on story plot auto-generation in large-scale video games, adaptive AI in fighting video games, and immersive experiences in Virtual Reality simulation) stated "Many people are worried about AI, but in our project, it can support humans, not be a threat to replace us."
Simiarly, Makoto Tezuka, the late author's son spoke positively in a press conference on the potential of AI generated media, stating "I always felt sad whenever Osamu Tezuka fans said they could no longer enjoy his new work. AI creating his new work...that's exactly the kind of (technologically advanced) world depicted in Tezuka's manga...[I hope] this technology will be applied to the training of young manga artists and also contribute to spreading the unique culture of Japanese manga to the world."
Other recent (potentially more horrifying) AI adaptions of beloved comics include Batman and Garfield.
> ...AI adaptions of beloved comics include Batman...
That's part of a running gag by @KeatonPatti on Twitter. Search his timeline for "I forced a bot to watch".
posted by ardgedee at 11:06 AM on February 27, 2020
That's part of a running gag by @KeatonPatti on Twitter. Search his timeline for "I forced a bot to watch".
posted by ardgedee at 11:06 AM on February 27, 2020
arxiv or it didn't happen
posted by gwint at 11:53 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 11:53 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
As an avid reader of manga, I'm not sure an AI could do much worse than your standard shounen battle or isekai story.
posted by star gentle uterus at 1:20 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 1:20 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
“Help! I’m Trapped in an AI Simulation of My Real Life!”
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:09 PM on February 27, 2020
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:09 PM on February 27, 2020
I am curious to see the results myself, as both a Tezuka and manga fan, mostly because they enlisted an AI scholar who has conducted experiments in computer generated plot scenarios rather than, say, just some random machine learning hobbyist throwing stuff into a neural network.
Also I just really love the idea of a hobo with a robot bird fighting crime in the future even if it IS still uncanny valley Tezuka. It's not TOO far off from a story he might create, however, if you consider the training data (specifically Phoenix) and also his last work, Midnight.
posted by Young Kullervo at 2:36 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also I just really love the idea of a hobo with a robot bird fighting crime in the future even if it IS still uncanny valley Tezuka. It's not TOO far off from a story he might create, however, if you consider the training data (specifically Phoenix) and also his last work, Midnight.
posted by Young Kullervo at 2:36 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Not AI, how is this AI? It's not. Stop calling things AI.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 4:30 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 4:30 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Do Junji Ito next.
posted by snerson at 6:59 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by snerson at 6:59 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Not AI, how is this AI? It's not. Stop calling things AI.
Do tell.
posted by Young Kullervo at 7:46 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Do tell.
posted by Young Kullervo at 7:46 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Here's the crucial piece of the first article:
But of course that framing isn't as futuresexy and won't build up nearly as much hype as ROBOT WRITES MANGA!!!
posted by overglow at 8:12 AM on February 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
The AI program came up with the rough story, protagonist and original ideas for character designs.I don't know why this story isn't being framed as, "Human animators use computer program to assist in their creative process," which would be much more accurate. Especially because, one can't help but wonder, did they have the AI program generate just one premise? Or were there multiple premises that they picked between?
Human animators who filled in the story's details drew the illustrations.
But of course that framing isn't as futuresexy and won't build up nearly as much hype as ROBOT WRITES MANGA!!!
posted by overglow at 8:12 AM on February 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
That’s a valid point and I wondered the same myself, honestly.
Still delighted by the entire premise.
posted by Young Kullervo at 8:23 AM on February 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Still delighted by the entire premise.
posted by Young Kullervo at 8:23 AM on February 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
GPT-2 would like a word. Or several --
"An AI program has learned the storytelling and art style of the legendary "God of Manga" manga Osamu Tezuka to create a completely original manga. Using 65 volumes of Tezuka's classic works...""it successfully illustrated the stories and created an original story. With the help of Tezuka's son, the project's creation began.
"So the program, which will be made available through AlphaBeta.org and will feature an 11-year-old, also developed a screenplay and screenplay treatment to go along with the stories.
"The idea for the creation was conceived as part of a short story contest that asked writers to submit their best short stories. As the contest opened for entries in September last year, Kaneko and his..."
Or, how about, "We trained an AI to write like Rene Echevarria" --
"PICARD: Report.
RIKER: The Cardassian ship relayed a distress signal but it was cut off before we could find out what was wrong."
PICARD: A ship that was at warp just before it was shot down?
RIKER: A tactical survey of the sector will be initiated immediately.
PICARD: And there is no sign of the intruder?
RIKER: I'm afraid not.
PICARD: Who sent them?
(Data enters)
RIKER: Data?
DATA: A copy of the original alert message.
RIKER: That's inconceivable, my friend.
DATA: Not impossible, I admit. However, I cannot be sure whether this was a logical attack on
posted by PandaMomentum at 12:44 PM on February 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
"An AI program has learned the storytelling and art style of the legendary "God of Manga" manga Osamu Tezuka to create a completely original manga. Using 65 volumes of Tezuka's classic works...""it successfully illustrated the stories and created an original story. With the help of Tezuka's son, the project's creation began.
"So the program, which will be made available through AlphaBeta.org and will feature an 11-year-old, also developed a screenplay and screenplay treatment to go along with the stories.
"The idea for the creation was conceived as part of a short story contest that asked writers to submit their best short stories. As the contest opened for entries in September last year, Kaneko and his..."
Or, how about, "We trained an AI to write like Rene Echevarria" --
"PICARD: Report.
RIKER: The Cardassian ship relayed a distress signal but it was cut off before we could find out what was wrong."
PICARD: A ship that was at warp just before it was shot down?
RIKER: A tactical survey of the sector will be initiated immediately.
PICARD: And there is no sign of the intruder?
RIKER: I'm afraid not.
PICARD: Who sent them?
(Data enters)
RIKER: Data?
DATA: A copy of the original alert message.
RIKER: That's inconceivable, my friend.
DATA: Not impossible, I admit. However, I cannot be sure whether this was a logical attack on
posted by PandaMomentum at 12:44 PM on February 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
I can call you be77y and be77y when you call me you can call me AI... call me AI...
posted by symbioid at 4:47 PM on February 28, 2020
posted by symbioid at 4:47 PM on February 28, 2020
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posted by ardgedee at 10:58 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]