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One in ten Japanese creatives loses income to generative AI

Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Jan 24, 2026
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About 12 percent of Japanese manga artists, illustrators, and other creative professionals saw their income drop over the past year because of generative AI.

That's according to the Freelance League of Japan, which released its survey results on Tuesday. The data shows 9.3 percent of respondents lost between 10 and 50 percent of their income, while 2.7 percent lost more than half, the Japan Times reports.

Clients demand AI use, cut fees

Creatives who took a hit describe a common pattern: clients push for shorter deadlines and lower fees, often requiring AI tools. Some lost contracts altogether after clients switched to generative AI.

The online survey ran in October and collected 24,991 responses. 88.6 percent of respondents see generative AI as a threat to their livelihood. 62.9 percent say they don't use AI tools and don't plan to.

The Freelance League wants the Japanese government to step in. They're calling for transparency rules around training data, mandatory labels for AI-generated work, and new profit-sharing systems that would pay creators whose work is used to train these models.

The broader effects of generative AI on jobs are still unclear. Part of the problem is that the technology is still new. But researchers also struggle with the fact that cultural, economic, and industry-specific factors vary so much, making solid conclusions hard to reach.

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