Calls grow for regulations on AI technology on web comics

A mobile image of Naver Webtoon's Toon Filter, an artificial intelligence image generator, released May 12 / Courtesy of Naver Webtoon

By Lee Hae-rin

With the ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) within the realm of the creative industry, there is an increasing demand to establish guidelines for its use and to safeguard the intellectual property rights of artists.

Earlier this month, Naver Webtoon, a digital comics platform by Korea's largest portal Naver, introduced Toon Filter, its AI image generator. This tool converts a photo into the drawing styles of 10 popular artists who publish their works on Naver Webtoon, such as Lee Dong-geon of "Yumi's Cells," 232 of "Love Revolution," Park Tae-jun of "Lookism" and Oh Sung-dae of "Tales of the Unusual."

Aimed to give users the feeling of having their portraits drawn by their favorite artists, the Toon Filter became an instant sensation, generating over 20 million images within a week after its release and nearly quintupling the number of new users on the platform.

Over 80 percent of the users were overseas fans of Korean webcomics from 30 countries, noticeably from Indonesia, Russia, The Philippines, Malaysia, and France among others. In response, the company announced plans to launch an English version of Toon Filter for global fans as soon as possible.

Despite its popularity, the Toon Filter has also triggered criticisms regarding the protection of artist's copyrights. Critics and domestic fans who believe that Naver Webtoon, which has been instrumental in the growth of the webcomic industry, is potentially undermining it.

One online user wrote, "Naver Webtoon is now destroying what it helped to build." Another user commented that instead of creating AI to mimic artists' styles, "Naver should be protecting (the copyrights of) the artists' drawing styles."

However, the company is "leading the way in assisting artists with technology and protecting the creative ecosystem," its official said, explaining that all 10 artists who provided their drawing styles for Toon Filter agreed to the service's intent and the company would have never proceeded without the artists' consent.

Four variations of the same photo, each transformed into a different drawing style using Naver Webtoon's Toon Filter / Screenshot from Naver Webtoon application

Meanwhile, some artists find the advancement of the new technology as a fundamental threat to their existence.

"It took five hardworking years to create my drawing style. It's what makes me special and competitive as a creator, but (AI generating service) could steal all that from me," a webtoon artist with over 20 years of experience told The Korea Times under the condition of anonymity, Friday, adding that he had been approached multiple times with offers to use his work for the machine learning process that AI utilizes to recreate webtoon images.

He said that many webtoon artists are choosing not to voice their concerns on this issue due to a power imbalance between them and the platforms. Especially, Naver stands out as one of the biggest and most influential platforms, making it even harder for the artists to express their worries.

The webtoon artist said he and like-minded artists from the associations of Korean cartoonists and webcomic artists held a forum at the National Assembly, May 2, along with lawmakers and scholars to discuss legislative measures in regard to the AI issue.

Toon Filter is neither the first nor the only one of Naver's AI-integrated services. Two years ago, the company introduced an automatic coloring program the AI Painter and in February, it launched a beta version of a service combining AI with Augmented Reality (AR) to provide an immersive experience in a webcomic world. The company also plans to showcase Auto Drawing, an innovative tool that will generate fully colored webtoons automatically, soon.

Amid growing calls for regulations on generative AI technology and protection of artists' copyrights, Rep. Lee Sang-heon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) proposed an amendment to the Content Industry Promotion Act, Monday, which obliges notification of use of AI technology in creative work.

"The AI technology is advancing at an excessive rate, raising concerns over side effects from abuse," the lawmaker said, highlighting the need to legislate systemic controls on the emerging technology for its transparent and ethical development.

The European Union (EU) is nearing the enactment of a related law in the EU Parliament, which would enhance transparency around the data learning process for all generative AI, including ChatGPT, and would require creators to disclose the use of AI technology in their work.
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"We can't go back to the time before AI … but we need to build a healthy and sustainable system for creators," the anonymous webtoon artist said, explaining that the technology could also be used in favor of the artist as an automatization tool to reduce labor, for example.

"Of course, there must be a rightful compensation for the creators, too, if any profits are made (from the AI-generated services)," he added.