Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) subcommittee plans to propose penalties for artificial intelligence operators who do not comply with government requests for reports under the AI Law, according to a draft of their recommendations. This initiative comes in response to the increasing harms caused by generative AI, such as copyright infringement and deepfakes, and highlights a significant gap in the current AI Law, which lacks penalty mechanisms for non-compliance. The subcommittee’s draft emphasizes the need for effective measures to ensure that Japan does not fall behind other countries in obtaining vital information from AI operators, as foreign-made AI services contribute to unauthorized content that closely resembles Japanese anime and manga characters.

Masaaki Taira: Masaaki Taira is a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives and former Minister for Digital Transformation focused on digital policy reforms. As chair of the LDP’s AI and Web3 subcommittee, he led the drafting of proposals to introduce penalties for non-compliant AI operators and to guide responses to copyright infringements from generative AI. His work highlights emerging damages from deepfakes and the need for Japan to match international standards like the EU AI law.
Japanese Government: The Japanese Government is the central executive authority responsible for enacting and enforcing national legislation, including the AI Law that took effect in September to promote research while addressing risks. It is poised to consider the Liberal Democratic Party’s draft proposals, which criticize the absence of penalties in the current AI Law and call for measures against unscrupulous operators. The government is further encouraged to enhance AI sovereignty through support for domestic development in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and semiconductors.
Liberal Democratic Party: The Liberal Democratic Party is Japan’s dominant conservative political party, which has governed the country for most of the postwar era and currently leads in coalition to shape policies on technology and security. Its AI and Web3 subcommittee recently compiled draft proposals recommending penalties for AI operators who fail to comply with government reporting requirements under the AI Law. The recommendations also urge active investigations into operators generating large volumes of copyright-infringing content, particularly deepfakes and anime-style visuals.

AI Law Gap: Japan’s AI Law promotes innovation but lacks penalty mechanisms for operators refusing government information requests.
Deepfake Damages: Generative AI is causing increasingly apparent harm through copyright violations and deepfakes.
Anime Infringement: Foreign AI services are proliferating unauthorized content resembling Japanese anime and manga characters.