Boichi
Manga Artist
South Korean–born manga artist behind Sun-Ken Rock and the hit series Dr. Stone, who stopped posting his art on X in protest after the platform added an AI image-editing tool, saying he cannot accept his work being exploited without consent.
In his words
I cannot accept my works being used, learned from, or exploited without my consent or proper compensation.
Biography
Boichi, the pen name of Mu-jik Park (born 1973), is a South Korean–born manga artist working in Japan, celebrated for his photorealistic detail and dynamic action. His credits include the seinen series Sun-Ken Rock and Origin, but he is best known as the illustrator of Dr. Stone, the long-running Weekly Shōnen Jump science-adventure series written by Riichiro Inagaki, later adapted into a popular anime.
Walking away from the platform
In December 2025, after X rolled out an “Edit Image” button that let users alter any posted picture through Grok’s AI, Boichi announced he would stop posting his manga and illustrations there. He was careful to say he does not fear AI and even believes in its future — his objection is to art being scraped and altered without permission or payment. He remained on the platform to talk with fans but stopped feeding it his artwork.
It’s with a heavy heart, but I’ve decided to stop posting my illustrations here.
Boichi was among a wave of Japanese manga professionals — including Daisuke Moriyama — who pulled their work from X over the same feature, part of a broader 2025–2026 backlash in which manga’s biggest names and publishers pushed back against generative tools trained on their catalogs. His measured framing, distinguishing the technology from its unlicensed use, made him a notable voice for consent-based rules rather than blanket prohibition.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/boichi