Arab News Japan

Japanese beverage company Ito En is currently receiving mixed reactions on social media as their latest television commercial goes viral for using an artificial intelligence-generated model.

Founded in 1966, Ito En specializes in tea production and is known for selling authentic Japanese tea and matcha. The company is currently the largest tea distributor in Japan.

The company released the advertisement in early September to promote its latest new drink, Oi Ocha Catechin Green Tea, featuring an unknown female spokesperson. After a month of its release, the company confirmed that the model was created using artificial intelligence (AI).

The technology is provided by AI Model Inc., and the company shared that the advertisement is the first of its kind in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEoG1NCdmdY

The viral 15-second commercial starts with a gray-haired woman in a futuristic landscape as she transforms into a younger version of herself, encouraging the viewers to drink the tea to stay healthy.

The commercial has more than half a million views, with reposts from X users that gained around 33,000 views.

The company has received mixed reviews from viewers. Some view the commercial as impressive since it is extremely realistic. 

Viewers also praised the advertisement because it limits any human-caused scandal in the future, since a company’s image collapses if their spokesperson is remotely involved in a scandal. For example, many companies had to stop using Johnny & Associates personalities following the sexual assault scandal.

On the other hand, others questioned if all actors would be AI-generated in the future and what it would mean in terms of copyright.

The commercial raises the legal question of whether Itoen can own rights to this character. There's also the broader issue of how far AI-generated characters can take over work which traditionally required employing real models and actors.

— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) October 18, 2023

Additionally, the company also created the initial Oi Ocha Catechin Green Tea label using AI, before a human finalized the design.