MiHoYo awarded $112,000 by Chinese court after AI voice service dupes Genshin Impact characters
MiHoYo has won a significant legal victory in China after a Shanghai court ruled against an unnamed generative AI developer. The court ordered the defendant to pay ¥750,000 (approximately $112,000) for inappropriately reproducing and selling voices of Genshin Impact characters using artificial intelligence.
According to Chinese publication The Paper, this marks Shanghai’s first case concerning “unfair competition” through the use of AI to recreate voiceover work originally produced by other companies. The defendant was found to have used generative AI to replicate the voices of 63 Genshin Impact characters without authorization. The company compounded the infringement by using in-game images and story animations to advertise and sell the illegal voice packs to customers.
The court determined that the defendant’s actions demonstrated clear intent to unfairly compete with MiHoYo’s legitimate voice services. This ruling is notable as it addresses a growing issue in the gaming industry: the unauthorized use of AI technology to synthesize copyrighted voice talent and associated creative assets. The case reflects broader concerns about intellectual property protection in an era of increasingly sophisticated generative AI tools.
While the defendant remains unnamed in public reporting, the verdict sends a message about the legal consequences of creating and distributing AI-generated content that mimics proprietary game assets. The precedent may influence how Chinese courts approach similar cases involving AI-generated reproductions of creative works in the gaming sector and beyond.