by Masaki Yuda

With the advent of Generative AI, the world of image and video content is undergoing a significant transformation. The work of creators is being dramatically streamlined, and a new era is dawning where new creative entities emerge from companies, individuals, and various systems, bringing forth a surge of ideas. 

While text-based conversational AI, like Chat GPT, is becoming increasingly accepted in society, there remain challenges in the commercial use of images and video content. These challenges include barriers in collecting training data and securing rights, as well as the lack of data governance.  

Addressing these issues is the focus of Visual Bank. 

Leveraging the strengths of "Amana Images," one of the largest stock material platforms in Japan, Visual Bank is building a platform that enables the safe and technology-driven use of image and video data. 

In addition to developing datasets with its original images and video materials, Visual Bank is solving problems of diverse IP utilization, such as manga characters, and the collection and licensing of AI training data materials through collaboration with stakeholders like governments and publishers, and generative AI tools. 

The goal is to create a world where creators can easily produce high-quality content. Few teams can envision and execute a business in a domain where law, traditional industry networks and trust, and technology are intricately intertwined. 

The representative, Mr. Numazawa, is a serial entrepreneur in the media domain with a deep understanding of image and video data and the execution ability to match. About ten years ago, when Mr. Numazawa was working at Yahoo Japan, I had the pleasure of working with him, and I am delighted to reunite in this manner.

ZVC supports Visual Bank to update the future of the visual content industry.