Japan weighs strict AI rules as copyright fears mount

As worries grow over the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI), Japan’s ruling party has called for stringent measures to regulate the technology.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) recommended last week that the government consider enacting penalties on companies that fail to follow guidelines under the country’s AI law, a proposal that comes amid rising concerns about the proliferation of deepfake content and unauthorized use of copyrighted material created by generative AI systems.

While Japan has existing rules to tackle AI misuse under the Act on Promotion of Research and Development, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-related Technology, a panel within the LDP focusing on AI and Web3 said these lack strong enforcement, making it difficult for authorities to act against operators who ignore requests for information or those who fail to address harmful outputs, UPI reported, citing details gathered by South Korean media outlet Asia Today.

The East Asian country unveiled the Act on Promotion of Research and Development, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-related Technology, an AI framework, in September 2025 to support AI innovation while giving authorities the power to investigate cases where the technology may harm people’s rights.

Building on these regulatory efforts, the panel urged the government to take action against businesses that repeatedly produce content that violates copyright, adding that measures mandating companies to be more transparent about how their AI systems work should also be put in place, especially on how they manage training data and prevent or address problematic results.

The issue about copyright infringement made headlines in Japan late last year after 17 publishing companies denounced OpenAI’s Sora 2 app for allowing users to automatically create anime characters. The anime generated by the app were based on training data illegally sourced from contents produced by the publishing companies.

The publishing companies, comprising Kiyokawa Corp., Kodansha Ltd., and Shogakukan Inc., warned of a legal action against OpenAI.

Apart from possible penalties, the LDP panel also emphasized the need for Japan to strengthen its domestic AI sector, recommending initiatives such as further integrating the technology into self-driving cars, boosting production of local components and semiconductors, and creating special zones to accelerate the use of robotics.

The party pointed out that such efforts are vital to help Japan retain its tech competitiveness and maintain control over AI technologies.

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