This image, provided by Kakao Entertainment, an entertainment arm of tech giant Kakao Corp., on July 27, 2021, shows its new webtoon platform.
SEOUL, June 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Amidst controversy surrounding Naver Webtoon’s recent utilization of artificially intelligence (AI)-generated works, its main competitor is garnering attention by hosting a contest that appears to be mindful of this issue.
Kakao Webtoon Studio announced that it will a guerrilla contest for six days starting Thursday. The contest explicitly states that it will exclusively accept works created by human artists.
In addition to a synopsis of thirty episodes, a completed script for the first episode, a storyboard for the second episode, and character sketches with descriptions, participants must also provide evidence to substantiate that their webtoons were drawn by humans.
Kakao Entertainment, the operator of Kakao Webtoon Studio, further emphasizes its commitment to exclude AI-generated works by conducting interviews with the creators of the shortlisted entries.
Thus far, the webtoon industry has prioritized the active adoption of AI technology, acknowledging it as an irreversible trend.
Nevertheless, the unexpectedly strong opposition from readers is impeding the progression towards AI-generated content.
“While creators recognize some advantages of AI technology, readers do not share the same sentiment,” an industry official said.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
