The manga magazine Shonen Jump+ has stepped into the current polarized debate surrounding Artificial Intelligence's involvement in art by creating a new tool for mangaka to create manga using AI. As artificial intelligence has improved and programs like ChatGPT get better at writing like real people, some have feared that this may supplant many artists’ jobs. Luckily Shonen Jump+’s new tool isn’t close to being able to replace mangakas yet, but it may represent a worrying future.Shonen Jump+’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief Yuta Momiyama tweeted out a link to the company’s new AI tool Comic-Copilot (or Comicopa for short), which is intended to help mangaka with simple tasks like refining dialogue and creating character names. Mangakas can ask the AI a question or give it a request and Comicopa will attempt to help them the best it can. The website stresses that the tool is meant to be used as an aid for mangakas and not their replacement and as of now this certainly rings true. Comicopa’s current capabilities certainly aren’t anywhere close to being able to create a manga on its own and so for now the program serves as another example of how Shonen Jump+ is attempting to modernize the manga industry.

Shonen Jump+'s Comicopa Uses AI to Make Manga Creation Simpler

Branching out of the physical Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, Shonen Jump+ is a digital manga anthology that features some of Shonen Jump’s most popular series. Many readers even consider Shonen Jump+ better than Shonen Jump. Hit manga like Spy x Family and Kaiju No. 8 premiered in the publication and the incredibly popular series Chainsaw Man shifted over to Shonen Jump+ when it began its second part. The digital magazine grants its creators more freedom in both their subject matter and their release schedules, with many series being biweekly instead of weekly. This general approach of adapting manga creation and distribution to modern-day technology makes the magazine’s foray into AI tools unsurprising even if the use of AI in artistic creation is currently controversial.

Even if Comicopa was significantly more advanced, it likely still wouldn’t be able to replace human mangakas. After all, when One Piece’s creator Eiichiro Oda used ChatGPT to write a hypothetical chapter of the series, while it was able to nail some details and plots, it was largely nonsensical. And even if Comicopa was able to write a whole chapter of manga it would still have to generate the art and panels, which is far outside its current capabilities.

Shonen Jump+'s Comicopa is a Sign of Things to Come

However, while Comicopa may be benign on its own, some fear it could potentially be the first step in a longer process of automating manga production. Some readers are even uncomfortable with consuming art that has only been partially generated by an AI. But as AI becomes even more prevalent in all aspects of life, Shonen Jump fans will have to reckon with its impact on the manga industry as well, with Comicopa being just the first example.

Source: Twitter, Comicopa's Website