MiHoYo AI media incident — Sep 2026

Lawyers for miHoYo, the creators of Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero, successfully sued an AI service developer for the unauthorized use of their intellectual property. The case centered on the illegal reproduction of 63 character voices used to generate custom voiceovers for the service's clients.

What happened

The AI service allowed users to create custom voiceovers using the voices of Genshin Impact characters. To promote these offerings, the service developers utilized official character models and images as avatars for their voice packs, even providing samples for clients to listen to before purchase. Analysis confirmed that the AI-generated output and the actual game voices shared nearly identical characteristics. During the proceedings, the defendant admitted to using game audio as training material for their model.

The service providers attempted to argue that their technology relied on third-party models and suggested that voice actors should be the ones to defend their own rights. However, the court determined that the character voices had become a distinctive signifier for the game, and their unauthorized use created a false impression of an official association with miHoYo. While miHoYo initially sought 5 million Chinese yuan, the court ultimately ordered the AI service to cease all illegal activities and pay approximately 112,000 dollars in damages to the game developers.