2025.Jan.24

REPORTS

Report on the 3rd MeDi-B’AI Symposium
“How Is the Media Landscape Changing? — AI and the Freelance Act”

On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the third MeDi-B’AI Symposium, titled “How is the Media Landscape Changing? – AI and the Freelance Act,” was held at the Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building on the Hongo Campus. The symposium focused on the newly enacted “Act on Ensuring Proper Transactions Involving Specified Entrusted Business Operators,” known as the “Freelance Act,” as well as the changing labor conditions in the media industry due to advances in AI technology. The aim was to reflect on the human rights of media workers and the state of Japan’s media culture. The symposium was organized by the MeDi (Media and Diversity Forum) and co-organized by the B’AI Global Forum.

The symposium featured a diverse range of speakers, including practitioners from the media and entertainment industries, as well as lawyers, legal scholars, AI researchers, and media scholars. These experts engaged in discussions on the future of media culture and the structure of the industry in the AI era.

The symposium highlighted how issues, such as gender disparity, gender inequality, and harassment, have resurfaced in the media industry alongside the reorganization of the labor market and changes in labor conditions resulting from recent advancements in AI technology. It was emphasized that, in order to produce creative media content, it is essential to confront the power imbalances and structural problems within the industry.

Text: Honoka Kato (Project Researcher)
Photo: Izumi You (Master’s Student)
English proofreading: David Buist (Project Senior Specialist）

*This article is reposted from the University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies website.