Recently, Japanese netizens discovered two new hentai doujinshi created by the author “Tamagoyaki (たまごやき)” that caused a stir in the community. Both works achieved impressive digital sales figures: one of them sold 5,327 copies and the other 5,442 copies with an average price of 605 yen and 660 yen respectively.

Performing the calculation, the total gross income is as follows:

• First doujinshi: 5,327 copies x 605 yen = 3,222,835 yen.
• Second doujinshi: 5,442 copies x 660 yen = 3,591,720 yen.

In total, this adds up to 6,814,555 yen in gross revenue. Even considering that distributor commissions probably amount to at least 50 percent, The amount of money earned is still enormous, leaving the author with profits of over 3 million yen. (in theory, because usually these releases start at a very low price and then go up, so the sales number is not very reliable).

The reason the data is trending is that both jobs are listed as “made with AI (コミック・AI)”. This suggests that the author Tamagoyaki used artificial intelligence to generate the images, making only the minimum effort necessary to adjust and correct any imperfections created by the AI. This fact has generated a large number of comments and discussions, as the author would have been able to obtain million yen in gross revenue with considerably less effort compared to the traditional doujinshi creation process.

This discovery reignited the debate over the use of image-generating AI in content creation. Some artists and creators feel threatened by the ease with which works can be produced using these technologies, while others see them as a valuable tool that can help speed up the creative process.

• «I want to do this too».
• «I heard that AI images don't sell anything».
• «The important thing is that it is exciting».
• «Those who buy also have their share of responsibility».
• «It's amazing how much effort they put into this.».
• «I heard that AI images are not copyrighted, but if I sold copies of this manga, would they arrest me?».
• «It's all good, right? After all, he thought of the structure and dialogues himself, right?».
• «Okay, now you've thought about dialog, panel layout, and composition.».
• «Envy will soon begin among so-called “AI artists.” This community is already fueled by envy of traditional artists».
• «It's very mediocre. Normal art platforms generate billions».
• «This is ridiculous. So all jobs that sell less than AI jobs are garbage?».
• «Isn't this just a strategy of selling at extremely low prices to increase sales and they are not making that much money?».
• «Even if I could earn 100 million yen a year, I wouldn't want that kind of job.».
• «It must be extremely tedious to make a manga with AI images. It's surprising that current AIs can generate so many variations of the same character.».
• «It's better than artists who draw by hand and don't sell anything».
• «To be honest, these mangas sell very cheaply in the first week and then go back to their normal price of 980 yen. So the sales figures are not very reliable.».
• «Even though the fingers are terrible, they sell very well.».

Source: Yaraon!