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Cygames Establishes Cygames AI Studio Subsidiary
posted on by Alex Mateo
The company founded Cygames AI Studio in December. Its office is in Shibuya in Tokyo. Eitoshi Ashihara serves as the CEO. Masaru Kanai and Shuichi Kurabayashi are Directors. Ryohei Okuma is an Auditor.
Media advertising company CyberAgent established Cygames in 2011, and the company has produced games such as Uma Musume Pretty Derby, Rage of Bahamut, and Granblue Fantasy. Cygames established an anime division in March 2015 and the anime production subsidiary Cygames Pictures in April 2016. The company has worked on anime productions inspired by its games including Uma Musume Pretty Derby, Rage of Bahamut Genesis, Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, and Granblue Fantasy the Animation.
In April 2024, CyberAgent created in-house guidelines for its creators for using generative AI/large language models for images, aimed at avoiding violations of copyright law and highlighting that current generative AI cannot produce a usable end product as-is.
The guidelines stress that creators should not enter personal or confidential information when using AI tools, or use them explicitly to create content that is similar to other works, as well as not to enter prompts that include the names of other works, other creators, or celebrities and other well-known people. The guidelines also forbid creators from uploading copyrighted works as part of the learning model without express permission from the copyright holder. In-house creators using generative AI are expected to do their due diligence and check if results are similar to other works, and be aware of how the AI generates works that may be too similar to other works. The guidelines stress that creators should avoid treating the generated image as a final product, and make as many necessary adjustments and modifications to it as possible, treating it as the starting point of a final product. The company's system security and legal affairs groups must also conduct inspections of the generative AI and the models it uses.
CyberAgent established its AI Lab group in 2016, and it debuted its first large language model based on Japanese in May 2023. The company established an AI-focused business unit focused on game development named "Game AI Lab" in October 2023, as well as the "Animation AI Lab" business unit for animation production in the same month.
Yuito Kimura co-founded Cygames with President Koichi Watanabe in 2011. He became the company's Executive Director in April 2019. He served as a producer on Granblue Fantasy, Shadowverse, Princess Connect! Re:Dive, Idoly Pride, and Rage of Bahamut Genesis. He stepped down from his role on September 30.
Cygames established its Global Business Development team in 2017, followed by its first overseas branches in South Korea and Taiwan. The company established its United States-based Cygames America branch, as well as its London-based Cygames Europe branch, in April 2023. Cygames established the Cygames Singapore overseas branch in May 2024.
Sources: Cygames AI Studio, 4Gamer (Akasaka)
