Publishers of Japanese newspapers have demanded that the government strengthen copyright protection against the uncontrolled use of content by generative artificial intelligence. The Association of Publishers and Editors of Japanese Newspapers has sent an official appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers demanding measures against the unauthorized use of news materials.
The address has become part of a written conclusion on the government's plan to promote intellectual property for the next year. This document traditionally formulates the state's main policy in the field of protection and use of intellectual property and is usually adopted in June. The government began collecting opinions on the new plan last month.
In its conclusion, the association emphasized the scale of the problem: "There is no limit to generative artificial intelligence services using content without permission." Particular concern is raised by so-called 'zero-click' searches — situations where users receive all the necessary information directly from AI-generated answers without visiting the original news sources.
Publishers justifiably fear that such practices could seriously undermine the financial foundation of news organizations. If readers stop visiting media sites, this will deprive publications of advertising revenue and subscriptions, ultimately limiting the public's right to receive quality journalistic information.
Demands for changes in legislation
The association has made a specific proposal: changes must be made to copyright law that will legally require respect for the refusals of news publications to grant access to their materials for training AI systems. In fact, it is about creating a legal mechanism that will allow publishers to independently control the use of their content.
The initiative reflects the growing concern of the media industry worldwide. Generative AI systems are trained on vast arrays of texts, including news articles, yet copyright holders often receive neither compensation nor even notification of the use of their materials.
Legal battles with Perplexity AI
Japanese news organizations are not limited to just appealing to authorities — they have moved to active legal actions. Several media companies have already filed lawsuits against the American startup Perplexity AI Inc., which offers a search service based on generative artificial intelligence.
These legal disputes could set an important precedent for defining the boundaries of using copyrighted content in the AI era. Decisions by Japanese courts could influence regulatory approaches to such technologies not only in Japan but also in other countries where media companies face similar challenges.
AI Opinion
The situation with Japanese publishers resembles conflicts from past decades between media and new technological platforms. Google News in the 2000s faced similar accusations of 'content theft,' but ultimately became a source of traffic for publications. Modern AI systems are technically capable of finer tuning data sources through robots.txt mechanisms and special meta tags, yet most developers currently ignore such signals.
An interesting aspect is that the Japanese approach may serve as a catalyst for creating global content licensing standards for AI. The European Union is already working on similar mechanisms within the AI Act. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a new economic model where publishers will receive direct compensation for training AI models — similar to how musicians receive royalties for playing tracks.
