WIT Studio apologizes for using AI in the Ascendance of a Bookworm opening

The long-awaited return of the internet's favorite bookworm was overshadowed by one of the most sensitive and hated topics in the community today: the use of artificial intelligence. The acclaimed WIT Studio had to step forward and issue a public apology this Friday, after fans' keen eyes detected clear traces of AI-generated images in the background sequences of the opening of the first episode of Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujō).

Backlash and a corporate apology

The scandal erupted following the broadcast of the season premiere on April 4th. Social media was quickly flooded with screenshots pointing out errors and strange visual patterns in the opening animation backgrounds, typical of automatic image generators. Faced with pressure from the fandom, the company conducted an internal investigation of its production process and ended up confessing the bitter truth: image generation tools were indeed used in certain cuts of the opening.

To calm the waters, WIT Studio promised to replace this sequence with a version completely redrawn by hand starting from the second episode. In their statement, the production company clarified that, although they are always researching new technologies, they have a strict policy against using AI in their regular productions, claiming that this disaster occurred exclusively due to a serious failure in their inspection and management systems. Basically, someone failed to review the final work or tried to take a forbidden shortcut.

Clearing names in the anime industry

To prevent the reputation of their artists from being tarnished, the studio emphasized that neither the art director nor the background studio NAM HAI ART were involved in this malpractice, and they assured that the rest of the episodes are completely clean. This new adaptation of the popular light novel written by Miya Kazuki, which now follows the protagonist's adventures under the name Rozemyne, is scheduled to air for two consecutive cours, so a controversy like this at the start was the last thing they needed.

Seeing that Japanese studios are under insane work pressure, do you think errors involving artificial intelligence will become increasingly common in the anime industry, or will production companies learn their lesson after these types of scandals?