{"id":643291,"date":"2026-05-01T18:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643291\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T18:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:42:15","slug":"gobelins-says-k-pop-label-used-ai-to-plagiarize-student-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643291\/","title":{"rendered":"Gobelins Says K-Pop Label Used AI To Plagiarize Student Short"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leading French animation school Gobelins says a new music video for the K-pop girl group Billlie copied the design of a 2025 student short film, Niccol\u00f2, without permission, and has threatened to take legal action in defense of the short\u2019s directors.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Happening<\/p>\n

On April 30, Gobelins Paris posted across its digital networks that the school had \u201cmobilized our legal teams to defend our copyrights and evaluate potential legal action\u201d against Korean label Mystic Story, after the Niccol\u00f2 team flagged what the school calls a \u201cclear case of plagiarism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gobelins<\/a>
\nHow it Started<\/p>\n

On April 23, Mystic Story released \u201ccartography of the unconscious\u201d online as a teaser for Billlie\u2019s B-side \u201c$ECRET No More.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fans immediately flagged it as a genAI output that closely mimicked Niccol\u00f2, the gothic-tinged graduation from students directors Cl\u00e9mentine Di Prizio, David Florian, Axelle Granet, Sirui Liu, Hugo Michalet, and Pachiomius Njolai.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Co-director David Florian called the teaser \u201cAI slop\u201d and said the film had been used \u201cwithout our permission or any credit given.\u201d He later added that the design was \u201cclearly 1-to-1 Niccol\u00f2\u2019s,\u201d and that generative AI \u201cwill always steal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Label\u2019s Response<\/p>\n

Mystic Story CEO Jungsu Han first defended artists\u2019 use of AI when it carries \u201cartistic meaning,\u201d then backtracked under fan pressure and promised no unnecessary AI use going forward. On April 25, the company\u2019s official account said that an internal review found no plagiarism or copyright violations.<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/a>
\nDirector\u2019s Reaction<\/p>\n

Speaking with Cartoon Brew, co-director David Florian said he first learned of the teaser through Instagram DMs from a friend and a former schoolmate, who sent him screenshots circulating on X. While some early shots gave him pause, one specific scene made the resemblance \u201cincredibly obvious\u201d to him, followed by several others throughout the video.<\/p>\n

Florian framed the incident as part of a broader frustration with generative AI, saying that technology is \u201creally allowed to basically grab most people\u2019s work\u201d and that platforms like Instagram make it deliberately difficult for artists to opt out. He also expressed frustration that companies aren\u2019t required to disclose AI use, and while artists can spot the tells, \u201ca lot of people can\u2019t.\u201d Seeing a passion project he was deeply involved in repurposed for an \u201cofficial release\u201d and \u201cfinancial gain,\u201d he said, \u201cfelt really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

A School, An Advocate<\/p>\n

Florian was caught off guard by Gobelins\u2019 response. He tells us he reached out to the school the day he found out and initially heard nothing. That\u2019s understandable, he noted, with major milestones like graduation, Cannes, and Annecy approaching. He\u2019d expected, at most, \u201ca little email back.\u201d Instead, the school issued a public statement. \u201cSeeing that they actually officially take a stance on it and put it out there, it\u2019s very cool to see,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s for sure not an easy step for them to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florian graduated with Niccol\u00f2 and is now working at a studio in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Why it Matters<\/p>\n

Gobelins is named as the producer of its student films, which means the school can seek direct legal action on behalf of its alumni. A formal suit would be one of the first cross-border tests of how courts treat AI output that replicates an identifiable artist\u2019s style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leading French animation school Gobelins says a new music video for the K-pop girl group Billlie copied the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-643291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}