We reported this week manga publisher Shogakukan and other companies have invested 2.92 billion yen (19.5 million dollars) in Orange Inc for manga translation 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 been watching the rapid development of AI with a mix of intrigue and apprehension.
While AI's potential to streamline workflows and reduce production costs is undeniable and even favored by those seeking 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-powered manga translations has the potential to reshape the entire manga industry. Unsurprisingly, overseas manga translators and lettering artists received the news with a fair amount of skepticism.
AI manga translation fails to capture Japanese text:
The general consensus was that AI translations would not be able to capture the nuances of Japanese text, detracting from the reading experience.
Orange Inc. cited the slow pace of human translations and the difficulty of finding qualified translators. Many argued that investing heavily in AI translations instead of hiring and paying more translators was not a wise decision.
Therefore, if translators were paid fairly for their work, 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 letterers, including Brandon Bovia , were surprised that companies were ready to invest $19.5 million in a manga localization company while considering rates of over $1 per page for translations.
Jan Cash, known for translating Choujin X, Burn The Witches, and the most recent Bleach manga one-shot, pointed out that the money raised in the funding could have been used to pay a fair fee for at least 10,000 books.
While criticisms directed at Orange Inc. and Shogakukan over manga translation, along with other companies, are justified based on past experience, the localization company claims it is developing cutting-edge technology for manga localization, utilizing deep learning.
However, even with a highly developed AI model, we still rely on human translators for review and localization.
Source: X (Official Twitter)
