Press Release Body

Visual Bank Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Saneyuki Nagai; hereinafter "Visual Bank") and its subsidiary, amana images inc. (hereinafter "amana images"), have entered into a strategic business alliance with the Chiba Lotte Marines (Headquarters: Chiba City, Chiba; President: Shunsuke Kousaka) as of November 18, 2024.

Through this partnership, premium professional baseball content owned by the Chiba Lotte Marines—including extensive game footage—will be made available for AI training purposes via Qlean Dataset, the specialized AI data development service provided by amana images.

Background and Objectives

The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping society, with Generative AI gaining significant momentum since 2022. The sports industry is no exception; the integration of advanced technologies is expected to revolutionize the fan experience and solve long-standing industrial challenges.

Accelerating the development and accuracy of sports-centric AI requires vast amounts of high-quality, domain-specific raw data. General-purpose open-source datasets often lack the depth required for practical R&D in specialized fields. This scarcity of niche, industry-specific data has frequently acted as a bottleneck for innovation in sports technology.

By leveraging the Chiba Lotte Marines’ exclusive professional baseball archives for machine learning, amana images and the Chiba Lotte Marines aim to catalyze a cycle of innovation within the sports ecosystem. This alliance is designed to foster new use cases at the intersection of technology and sports, ranging from predictive analytics to immersive viewer engagement.

Scope of the Partnership

This agreement facilitates the commercial availability of specialized, closed-source visual assets for AI training through the Qlean Dataset platform.

Available Data Assets from Chiba Lotte Marines:

• Game Footage: All home games since 2005, covering various conditions (Day/Night, Weather: Clear, Cloudy, Rain) and multiple camera angles.

• Still images can include enriched Exif metadata.

• Event Data: Stadium events such as dance performances, fireworks, and ceremonies.

• Supplementary Assets: Merchandising, food and beverage imagery, and other stadium-related visuals.

Executive Commentary

Representative, Chiba Lotte Marines: "Previously, our historical video and photographic assets—for which the club holds full copyrights—were primarily utilized for secondary media licensing. Through this partnership with amana images, we look forward to seeing our proprietary data assets utilized effectively to drive technological progress."

Ippei Mochizuki, CEO of amana images inc. (Visual Bank Group): "A critical challenge for Japan’s tech landscape is the effective utilization of valuable, closed-source data. By delivering the Chiba Lotte Marines’ exclusive content to the AI development frontline through Qlean Dataset, we aim to facilitate the creation of novel technologies and use cases. The Visual Bank Group remains committed to supporting safe and secure AI development by promoting the ethical use of closed data under a framework of proper rights management, usage tracking, and fair compensation for creators."

About Qlean Dataset

Qlean Dataset is a commercially cleared AI training data solution provided by amana images Inc., a subsidiary of Visual Bank Group. The platform offers diverse data formats including image, video, audio, 3D, and text, as well as a specialized AI Data Recipe lineup developed through collaborations with major media organizations and data rights holders.

URL:https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en

Corporate Profiles

Visual Bank Inc.

Visual Bank Group is a technology company developing data infrastructure and AI solutions that support advanced AI development. The company operates THE PEN, an AI tool for manga creators, and its subsidiary, amana images Inc., provides commercial digital content and AI training data solutions, including Qlean Dataset. Visual Bank is also a selected participant in GENIAC, a Japanese government initiative supporting the advancement of next generation AI technologies.

CEO: Saneyuki Nagai
Website:https://visual-bank.co.jp/en

Chiba Lotte Marines

• President: Shunsuke Kousaka

• Address: 1 Mihama, Mihama-ku, Chiba City, Chiba

• Official Website: https://www.marines.co.jp/

Contact Information

For AI Developers & Engineering Teams: Please contact us for a free consultation regarding your specific dataset needs. amana images Customer Support Inquiry Form: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/contact

For Media Inquiries: Visual Bank Inc. Public Relations Team Email: publicrelations@visual-bank.co.jp