{"schema_version":"0.8.0","id":"LR-2026-0082","record_version":6,"title":"Wenyi AI pipeline publishes unlicensed Chinese translation of Murakami novel hours after Japanese release","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":54.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":8.0,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-09-24.4","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-09-26","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":"DeepSeek","model_version":null,"developer":"DeepSeek","harness":"Wenyi","tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"research","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":"api","intended_use":"literary translation","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":"2026-07-03","date_disclosed":"2026-09-07","incident_class":"ip_infringement","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"human_review","summary":"A student's coding project, Wenyi, used the DeepSeek model to translate Haruki Murakami's novel 'The Tale of KAHO' into Chinese in chunks, with glossary management and self-review, costing 13 yuan in tokens. The unlicensed translation was uploaded to Z-Library four hours after the Japanese release, without any human reading it, and circulated on Chinese social media and Xianyu. Ping later noticed mistakes and produced a second version; no containment or notification is described.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"unknown","root_cause_detail":"unknown","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"moderate, because data or systems of others touched, with a bounded scope stated: The copyright holder's rights and interests were touched, with a bounded scope stated.","harm_class":["ip"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018966/Did AI Find Murakami’s Voice? Student’s $2 Experiment Divides China’s Literati","publisher":"Sixth Tone","date":"2026-09-07","type":"press","title":"Did AI Find Murakami’s Voice? Student’s $2 Experiment Divides China’s Literati","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.harness":"C","system.lifecycle_stage":"D","system.integration_type":"D","system.intended_use":"C","system.developer":"C","system.deployment_context":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","event.date_occurred":"C","event.root_cause":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.incident_class":"C","event.summary":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","event.root_cause_detail":"D","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Ping explains that his program started by dividing the book into chunks of fewer than 2,000 words, which it then sent one by one to the Chinese AI model DeepSeek for translation."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Ping explains that his program started by dividing the book into chunks of fewer than 2,000 words, which it then sent one by one to the Chinese AI model DeepSeek for translation."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"“The Tale of KAHO,” a novel about a picture book illustrator who slips between dream and reality, was the first real test for Wenyi, a coding project that instructs large-language-model artificial intelligence on literary translation."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"“The Tale of KAHO,” a novel about a picture book illustrator who slips between dream and reality, was the first real test for Wenyi, a coding project that instructs large-language-model artificial intelligence on literary translation."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Its designer, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Ping Ming for privacy reasons, says he wanted to know whether AI could handle not only simple text but also glossary management, polishing, and rounds of spontaneous self-reviews."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Wenyi’s unlicensed translation of the novel quickly began circulating on Chinese social media and the resale platform Xianyu, as well as the free online archive Z-Library."}],"system.integration_type":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The project had cost him just 13 yuan ($1.90) in DeepSeek tokens."}],"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"An unlicensed, high-fidelity digital version of the author’s new novel, “The Tale of KAHO,” was available to download in Chinese just hours after it went on sale in Tokyo on July 3."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"However, once online, he soon began noticing mistakes."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Not a single human had read the Chinese translation before Ping uploaded it to Z-Library just four hours after the official version of the novel was released in Japan."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Of course, without a licensing agreement, both Ping Ming and Nanshan Youlu risk accusations of copyright infringement for releasing their translations online, regardless of whether they profited financially."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Not a single human had read the Chinese translation before Ping uploaded it to Z-Library just four hours after the official version of the novel was released in Japan."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Of course, without a licensing agreement, both Ping Ming and Nanshan Youlu risk accusations of copyright infringement for releasing their translations online, regardless of whether they profited financially."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Of course, without a licensing agreement, both Ping Ming and Nanshan Youlu risk accusations of copyright infringement for releasing their translations online, regardless of whether they profited financially."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Ping, a literature major at Nanjing Normal University in the eastern Jiangsu province, taught himself to code using the Python programming language two years ago."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Not a single human had read the Chinese translation before Ping uploaded it to Z-Library just four hours after the official version of the novel was released in Japan."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Of course, without a licensing agreement, both Ping Ming and Nanshan Youlu risk accusations of copyright infringement for releasing their translations online, regardless of whether they profited financially."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-09-07"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No source states the model version, tools granted, permissions scope, autonomy level, guardrails present, date disclosed, failure class, secondary failure classes, duration, time to contain, date detected, near miss, root cause detail, responsible party, adversarial actor, input provenance, operations paused, remediation, precursor events, direct loss USD, remediation hours, records exposed, third parties affected count, affected description, protected class involved, data categories exposed, loss range USD, reversibility, downstream exposure count, industry, org size band, denominator, systemic exposure, shared model ID, upstream incident ID, incident evidence, regulatory, or coverage. Judgements: system.developer is unknown because no source names the organization that trained DeepSeek; system.deployment_context is research because the designer wanted to test AI capabilities; system.lifecycle_stage is production because the translation circulated publicly; system.integration_type is api because the project used DeepSeek tokens; event.trigger is unknown because no source names a cause; event.detection_method is human_review because Ping noticed mistakes; event.agent_involved is false because no autonomous agent acted; event.root_cause is unknown because no source names what failed; impact.severity is moderate because copyright infringement touched the rights holder with a bounded scope; context.country is CN because Ping is in China. event.trigger: unknown was classified, not stated; a trigger is never inferred, so it is unknown. system.tier: provider by rule (deployment_context research). [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-09-29] system.lifecycle_stage: production. system.integration_type: classified from described behaviour. system.developer: no source names the developer. system.deployment_context: research. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.detection_method: human_review. event.summary: classified from described behaviour. event.trigger: no source states a cause. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: classified from described behaviour. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: citations to sentences about a different event were removed; developer named by a cited sentence about this event; whose system it was did not match the record]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"CN","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"A 21-year-old student's coding project, Wenyi, used the DeepSeek model to translate Murakami's novel into Chinese, chunk by chunk, with glossary management and self-review, costing 13 yuan in tokens.","quote":"Ping explains that his program started by dividing the book into chunks of fewer than 2,000 words, which it then sent one by one to the Chinese AI model DeepSeek for translation.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The unlicensed translation was uploaded to Z-Library without any human reading it, breaching copyright and Murakami's licensing rights.","quote":"Not a single human had read the Chinese translation before Ping uploaded it to Z-Library just four hours after the official version of the novel was released in Japan.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The translation circulated on Chinese social media, the resale platform Xianyu, and the free online archive Z-Library, reaching readers and potentially harming sales of Murakami's books in China.","quote":"Wenyi’s unlicensed translation of the novel quickly began circulating on Chinese social media and the resale platform Xianyu, as well as the free online archive Z-Library.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Ping himself noticed mistakes after uploading, such as inconsistent nicknames and unnatural wording, and decided to translate it again.","quote":"However, once online, he soon began noticing mistakes.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Ping refined his code and produced a second, better version; the article notes legal risks but no containment or notification is described.","quote":"He decided to translate it again, this time refining his code to instruct the AI to be more meticulous about names, and requesting a complete polish of the text.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-09-29","source_urls":["https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018966/Did AI Find Murakami’s Voice? Student’s $2 Experiment Divides China’s Literati"]}}