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Yuriten Exhibit Cancels 10th Anniversary Event After Artists Criticize Its AI Use

The organizers of the Yuriten (Yuri Fair) exhibition announced on Sunday that they have canceled the first of Yuriten's planned 10th anniversary events next weekend, after yuri manga creators criticized the event's use of AI-generated imagery in promotional material. The "Yuriten 10th Anniversary Restart Campaign in Ikebukuro" event would have been a free kickoff event in front of the Hareza Ikebukuro complex in Tokyo on October 17 and 18.

The organizers had posted an announcement about the event on social media on Friday. Hours later, they posted again to acknowledge the use of generative AI in that announcement's visual, the decorations at the event itself, and some of the organizers' other promotions and services. They said that they will not use generative AI in future Yuriten exhibitions or their promotional images.

Both posts generated criticism from artists and fans. Bloom Into You manga creator Nio Nakatani responded that, as someone who had taken part in past Yuriten exhibtions, she found the use of AI-generated imagery both confounding and disappointing. Yukiko (Futaribeya: A Room for Two) mused about not working with the organizers again for this and other reasons. Yayoi Osawa (Hello, Melancholic!) noted that Yuriten used AI despite being surrounded by many creators over the past decade.

Lilium, the company behind Yuriten which also runs a yuri book cafe, posted a new statement on Sunday to apologize to the creators, fans, and all those involved for the initial announcement post. Lilium said it contracted another company to manage and promote the event, and cited shortcomings in its own vetting process for letting the image be posted.

Lilium promised to review and strengthen its vetting process and management of outside contractors. It added that it will maintain its policy of not using generative AI internally and be more thorough in enforcing this policy on outside contractors.

Lilium deleted the event's initial announcement post shortly thereafter on Sunday, and confirmed that it canceled the event after multiple discussions within the company.

Yuriten launched with an exhibition at the now-defunct Ikebukuro Marui department store in Tokyo on February 22-28, 2016. The following year's exhibition teased an upcoming anime of Hiromi Takashima's Kase-san and... manga. Organizers canceled their 2018 exhibition five days before its planned launch at Ikebukuro Marui, after explaining that it would have been difficult for all of its creators to participate at that store. The organizers moved the exhibition to a new Tokyo venue later that year.

Source: Yuriten's X/Twitter account, Nio Nakatani, Yukiko, Yayoi Osawa via Yuri Network News, helixu on Reddit