Yuki Kaji Voice AI to Judge Student CM Narration Contest
The contest frames voice AI as an addition to a performer's toolkit rather than a replacement, tested first by students who plan to work in the same industry the technology unsettles.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
Voice actor Yuki Kaji's voice AI project Soyogi Fractal and Yoyogi Animation Academy will hold a joint CM narration contest. Students at the academy's nine campuses will make original narration by combining the voice synthesis software Bon Soyogi, built from Kaji's voice, with their own voices. Kaji heads the judging panel. His quote: using AI is not the goal, the question is how to use it as an extension of expression.
Students at Yoyogi Animation Academy's nine campuses will handle planning and narration themselves. No theme is set. Works must combine their own voices with Bon Soyogi, the official software built from Kaji's voice. The Voice Actor and Entertainer Department can take part, and the Animation Department's Anime Sound Course may also enter, with joint production across fields permitted.
Bon Soyogi comes from Soyogi Fractal, the project Kaji started in 2023 for the 20th anniversary of his voice acting career. Illustrator Mai Yoneyama handled character design. In April 2026 Kaji founded FRACTAL Inc., where he is Representative Director, President and CEO, running voice actor management alongside a voice AI business. A 3D live performance, Bon Soyogi 1st EXPO "0rigin", was held in March 2026 at Tokyo Garden Theater, with Kaji and the voice AI performing recitations and singing together.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.