We reported this week manga publisher Shogakukan and other companies invested 2.92 billion yen ($19.5 million) in Orange Inc to translate manga with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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The idea behind this investment is to boost the export of translated manga abroad using AI. The anime and manga industry has watched with a mix of intrigue and apprehension the rapid maturation of AI.
While AI's potential to optimize workflows and reduce production costs is undeniable and even favored by those who want to increase productivity, concerns persist about its impact on human creators who have dedicated their careers to this field.
In this sense, Japan's support for AI manga translations has the potential to reshape the entire manga industry. Not surprisingly, overseas manga translators and lettering artists greeted the news with a healthy dose of skepticism.
AI manga translation cannot capture Japanese text:
The general consensus was that AI translations would not be able to capture the nuances of Japanese text, diminishing the reading experience.
Orange Inc. cited the slow pace of human translations and the difficulty of finding qualified translators. Many argued that investing a lot of money in AI translations instead of hiring and paying more translators was not a wise decision.
Therefore, if translators were paid fairly for the work they do, it would become a more lucrative career path for many. It would also allow many translators to quit their day jobs and focus fully on their translation work.
Both translators and lettering artists, including Brandon Bovia , were surprised that companies were ready to invest $19.5 million in a manga localization company, while considering fees of over $1 per page for translations.
Jan Cash, known for translating Choujin
While criticism directed at Orange Inc. and Shogakukan over manga translation, along with other companies, is justified based on past experience, the localization company claims it is developing cutting-edge technology for manga localization using deep learning .
However, even with a highly developed AI model, we still rely on human translators for review and localization.
Source: X (Official Twitter)
