Publishers Furious After Major Distributor Admits Selling Books to AI Company Anthropic
Japanese publishers are expressing outrage after one of the country’s largest book distributors acknowledged selling large quantities of Japanese books to Anthropic, the American AI company behind Claude, raising concerns that the publications may have been destroyed and digitized for AI training without publishers’…
Background
Earlier stories from our archive that give context to this one.

Related stories
More games: Related storiesAmazon Flooded With Suspected AI-Generated Fire Emblem Guides
Nintendo’s Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave has become the latest video game targeted by publishers selling suspicious strategy guides on Amazon Japan, with numerous unofficial books featuring seemingly AI-generated artwork and questionable contents appearing just weeks after the game’s release.
via Sankaku Complex
Anime Studio Felix Film Backtracks on Generative AI Job Listing After Backlash
Japanese animation studio Felix Film, known for its work on MF Ghost and Nekopara, has found itself facing criticism after an animator recruitment listing openly welcomed applicants familiar with generative AI, prompting the company to revise the advertisement and clarify that it has not yet adopted the controversial…
via Sankaku Complex
Japanese Indie Developer Threatened With AI Game Clone Unless He Pays $200
A Japanese indie game developer has revealed that he received a threatening email demanding $200 worth of Steam items, with the sender claiming they would use AI to release a copy of his upcoming game before the original launched.
via Sankaku Complex
Xbox Accounts for 4% of Physical Game Sales as Microsoft Considers Disc Support for Next-Gen Console
Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console, currently known as Project Helix, could retain support for physical games despite Xbox accounting for just 4% of new physical video game sales in the United States.
via Sankaku Complex
Brazilian Man Sells Everything & Travels 2,000 KM to Meet AI-Generated Woman
A 49-year-old Brazilian man reportedly sold all his belongings and traveled more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) to meet a woman he believed he was romantically involved with, only to discover that she was an AI-generated character.
via Sankaku Complex
Former Take-Two AI Chief Warns AI Game Cloning Could Lead to More Invasive DRM
The rapid rise of AI-assisted game cloning could force publishers to introduce more restrictive digital rights management (DRM) and increasingly rely on cloud gaming, according to Take-Two Interactive’s former head of artificial intelligence.
via Sankaku Complex