aratama 璞’s 2023 Highlights and 2024 Aspirations: Embracing Generative AI
Happy New Year! As we begin 2024, I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all our associates and those who have followed us on social media.
Thanks to the opportunities we’ve received, aratama 璞 has been able to achieve success in events, commissions, and competitions.
As we enter the new year, I’d first like to review the highlights of 2023.
2023 Highlights
Invited by Ken-ichi Kawamura from Dentsu Institute, we exhibited AI-generated illustrations at Nico Nico Chokaigi 2023.
The Techno Memorial Service, created by Gyosen Asakura, a former DJ and now a priest of the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha “Shoen-ji” temple, is a new form of Buddhist art entertainment that combines Buddhism with technology. We created 201 AI-generated illustrations for the video and offered them as limited-edition NFTs for free minting.
September 14, 2023 – Featured in Forbes JAPAN BrandVoice (Ken-ichi Kawamura)
We exhibited for two days at Design Festa, one of Asia’s largest art events.
Many visitors attended, and we showcased, sold, and offered free minting of limited-edition NFTs featuring generative AI art.
This event also led to future work opportunities and connections.
We successfully released and sold out our first Bitcoin NFT series, featuring girls inspired by different animals.
In the “KYOTO KENRAN” project that we produced, the derivative NFTs of CryptoNinja sold out completely. We were able to exhibit at “Kyomaf 2023,” the largest manga, anime, and game event in Western Japan.
We participated in “VS AI Street Fighting,” a global Midjourney competition organized by “Dimension Plus,” a new media art team based in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
After winning the online preliminaries in September, we advanced to the finals held at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taiwan in November, where we secured second place.
Central News Agency
AI Street Fighting Turns Midjourney into Arcade Machine, Contestants Compete in 300-Second Image Generation
500TIMES
Exploring AI through Gaming! TCCF Creative Content Conference INNOVATIONS Showcase “VS AI Street Fighting” Debuts at Songshan
//// Final 8 | In Alphabetical Order ////
🥇1st place: introversify (Taiwan)
🥈2nd place: aratama (Japan)
Original RTX Sensei (Taiwan)
Reiko (Taiwan)
WennnnQ (Taiwan)
Yen (Taiwan)
阿貓阿狗繪AI (Taiwan)
黃士桓 (Taiwan)
We hosted a chat session on the latest image generation AI, featuring guest takio koizumi, a 3DCG FX Artist.
We had an interesting discussion on topics ranging from the latest Weekly Report to practical applications in creative production.
Aspirations for 2024 and Our Approach to Generative AI
I’d like to express my gratitude once again to all our associates and followers on social media for the opportunities we’ve received.
Our international challenges have allowed us to broaden our perspective and build new connections.
While we managed to navigate 2023 by learning and applying generative AI and web3 technologies, 2024 looks to be more challenging as surface-level knowledge and techniques will no longer suffice against increasing competition.
As aratama 璞, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to our commissioned work while focusing on enhancing quality, building our brand, and expanding both the breadth and depth of our technical skills through rapid experimentation, verification, and releases.
Regarding the use of generative AI, I believe there should be diverse opinions, and indeed, there have been negative views. We need to continually assess legal risks, both domestically and internationally.
Personally, I see generative AI as a far more powerful partner than previous IT and production tools. It seems irreversible.
I use generative AI with the expectation that it will surpass my imagination.
The likelihood of its adoption is high, and its speed is beyond human capability.
During our participation in international competitions, we received many questions from local student designers.
Interestingly, their questions were not about techniques, but about intentions and storytelling.
While I can’t predict how this difference between Japan and other countries will evolve, I don’t want to miss the chance for new content to emerge from Japan.
In 2024, we will continue to challenge the possibilities of new creative endeavors.
aratama 璞 welcomes inquiries from clients interested in new challenges.
Please feel free to contact us even for minor consultations.
We are also recruiting AI artists/creators who want to explore new creative possibilities. If you’re interested, let’s have a conversation.