All the futuristic machines and creatures in this sci-fi manga titled "Cyberpunk: Peach John" are the work of the Midjourney program, an AI tool that appeared last year that wowed the planet, along with other similar programs such as Stable Diffusion or DALL-E 2.

Rootport - the pseudonym of the author - produced the 100-page manga in just six weeks, where a confirmed artist would normally have taken a year, he estimates.

"It was a fun journey, a bit like playing the lottery," the 37-year-old told AFP.

Rootport entered keywords like "pink hair", "Asian boy" and "jacket", and the machine spawned images of the story's hero in about a minute, although his face is quite different from one box to another.

He then assembled the best results on a comic book page to make the book, entirely in color unlike "classic" manga, and which was already causing a lot of talk online before its publication.

"Rootport" performs a demonstration of manga creation by artificial intelligence, January 31, 2023 in Tokyo © Richard A. Brooks / AFP

For the author, image generators using AI have "paved the way for people without artistic talent" provided they have good stories to tell.

Magical "Incantations"

Rootport recounts the satisfaction felt when his textual instructions, like magical "incantations", begat images.

"But is it as satisfying as when you've drawn something yourself? Probably not," he admits.

The Midjourney program, developed in the United States, quickly met with worldwide success with its fantastic creations, sometimes absurd or even frightening but often surprisingly sophisticated, inviting many artists to question their profession.

Copies of "Cyberpunk: Peach John" at the offices of manga publisher Shinchosa in Tokyo on March 2, 2023 © Philip FONG / AFP

AIs have also occasionally caused legal controversy, and the start-up behind Stable Diffusion has been sued for "feeding" its AI with copyrighted materials.

In Japan, lawmakers have raised concerns about the issue, though experts say copyright infringement is unlikely if AI creations come from simple text commands.

Others fear the technology will harm the employment of young manga artists, and streaming platform Netflix was criticized in January for streaming a Japanese cartoon with AI-generated sets.

“The possibility that mangaka assistants will be replaced” one day by a machine “is not zero”, believes Satoshi Kurihara, professor at Keio University in Tokyo, who in 2020 published with his team an AI-assisted manga .

Copies of "Cyberpunk: Peach John" at the offices of manga publisher Shinchosa in Tokyo on March 2, 2023 © Philip FONG / AFP

Almost all of the drawings in this production in the style of the pioneer of this graphic genre, Osamu Tezuka, had been made by humans.

But since then, AI has become "top-notch" and will definitely influence the manga industry, he thinks.

Sense of humor

"I don't really see AI as a threat. Rather, I think it can be a great companion," said Madoka Kobayashi, a manga artist for over 30 years.

AI can "help me visualize what I have in mind, and suggest ideas, which I then try to improve," she adds.

“I am convinced that humans are always better” to imagine scenarios, also very important in manga, she underlines.

At the Tokyo Design Academy where she teaches, Ms. Kobayashi invites her students to observe figurines to improve their drawing of details such as muscles or folds in clothing.

Manga class at the Tokyo Design Academy, February 6, 2023 © Richard A. Brooks / AFP

"AI images are great, but I'm more attracted to human drawings, precisely because they are 'messy'," says Ginjiro Uchida, an 18-year-old student.

Computer programs have a hard time drawing hands or faces with deliberately exaggerated proportions like a real mangaka, and "humans have an even greater sense of humor," he thinks.

Three major Japanese publishers interviewed did not wish to express their vision of the future impact of AI on the manga industry.

Rootport doubts that 100% AI-created manga will become mainstream, but "don't think manga made without any AI will dominate forever either."

© 2023 AFP