Shueisha has denied the use of AI in the Manga Million project, launched on August 6 with over one million pages to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary.

In an interview with Forbes Japan, Manga Plus editor-in-chief and Manga Million project lead Shuhei Hosono revealed that they consciously chose to go with human translation despite many companies pitching the technology. As to why, he explained that manga translation doesn't just require the localization of text from Japanese into the target language, but also an awareness of speech bubble location and what character is speaking in separate pieces of dialogue. These particular elements made the incorporation of AI difficult, even if it would have decreased costs significantly.

Hosono's statements do seem intended to counter the widespread allegations on social media. As one user pointed out, Flitto Japan Inc. is credited with translation, lettering and editing for some languages: their website specifically mentions the use of AI tools in localization, even if there is no evidence that they were used for this specific project. In general, languages spoken in territories where Shueisha already enjoys significant business opportunities such as Europe and America are credited to individual translators, whereas more undeveloped markets are attributed to outsourcing companies.