Japan to use AI to tackle online manga and anime piracy

Around 70 per cent of pirating sites offering Japanese content operate in foreign languages, including English, Chinese and Vietnamese. - PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO (AFP): Japan is planning to use AI to police anime and manga pirating websites that the pop-culture powerhouse accuses of costing it billions of dollars in lost revenue every year.

There are at least 1,000 websites illegally offering free downloads of Japanese content, mostly its globally-renowned manga graphic novels, a group of domestic publishers claimed earlier this year.