Animation Studio OLM Debuts AI Coloring Tool; Nolan Presses Studios on AI Copyright

· Entertainment · Japan · United States

Japanese animation group OLM, behind the "Pokemon" anime series and films, has built an AI coloring tool that can pick up a show's visual look from just three hand-painted frames, OLM Digital board director Yotsukura Tatsuo said at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei. The tool emerged from ANIMINS, a 15-month project backed by the Japanese government. Separately, DGA president Christopher Nolan said in a new interview that protecting copyrighted work from AI is "down to the studios," and that he was pleased his film "The Odyssey" carries anti-AI boilerplate. The two developments spotlight how AI is entering production pipelines while guilds and filmmakers push studios to defend rights.

Why it matters：AI tools are moving from experiment to production line in animation while labor groups push studios to set copyright guardrails, a shift that will shape costs, contracts and legal risk across film and TV.

Key points

  • OLM's tool needs only three hand-painted frames to match a show's look.
  • It came out of ANIMINS, a 15-month Japanese government-backed project.
  • Nolan, DGA president, wants studios to pursue AI recreations of their work.

Sources (original reporting)

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