hikomi · Copyright and Takedowns

Last updated 9 October 2026, with version 0.5.3.

The short version

Hikomi, Ren and Aoi are original characters. Hikomi's and Ren's 3D models are hikomi's own; Aoi's is built on a sample model whose licence allows it. Their voices are made from public-domain recordings, except Hikomi's (below).
You can show hikomi in streams and videos, but not take the characters' models, animations or voices out of it, except through the export of a character you made and the moves that can come with an export (described below).
What you write for your own characters is yours, and nobody else sees it.
A voice you make from a personality (if you use that in the creator) is generated by an AI model on hikomi's servers: it is not a recording of any person.
Exporting a character you made in the creator as a VRM file isn't available yet: the creator is moving to new bodies and parts of hikomi's own. Hikomi's and Ren's models are never exported.
In the desktop app you can export a model you brought as a VRM file, but only where its own terms allow changes (or, for a GLB, glTF or FBX that carries no terms of its own, where you confirm that you made it or have the right to change it and convert it). Its author's terms travel inside the file and must stay with it.
An export can come with a zip of hikomi's body moves as VRM Animation files, for use with the model you exported. The moves were made with NVIDIA Kimodo, whose model is under the NVIDIA Open Model License; that license claims no rights in what the model makes.
In the desktop app you can use a 3D model file of your own for a character you make. It stays on your computer: hikomi never receives, hosts or shares it - a small picture of it goes with your account only if you choose that. Use only models you have the right to use.
If something on hikomi infringes your rights, tell us through the contact form and we act within 3 working days.

Our characters and where they come from

Aoi is an original character. Aoi's 3D model was built from AvatarSample_A, a sample model for VRoid Studio by pixiv Inc., under pixiv's published conditions for its sample models, which allow commercial use and modification. The name, look and personality are hikomi's own. Momo, a character until 2 October 2026, was made the same way; only Momo's voice is still offered, as one of the voices for characters you make. The creator also offers five voices that belong to no character - John, Bartholomew, Leo, Clara and Jo - made from public-domain LibriVox recordings read by John Lieder, Martin Clifton, Adrian Praetzellis, Elizabeth Klett and Laura Caldwell, and offered only as voices for characters you make.

The creator's male body, and the hairstyles and outfits the creator offers, were made by hikomi in VRoid Studio by pixiv Inc. from its preset parts, which remain pixiv's. The creator is closed for now while it moves to bodies and parts of hikomi's own.

Their reference voices come from public-domain recordings on LibriVox. Their voices are not a copy of any real person's voice. (A voice you make from a personality is a different case: see CHARACTERS YOU MAKE.)

The 3D characters' body movements (idling, waving, stretching, bowing and the like) were made for hikomi with Kimodo, a motion model by NVIDIA used under the NVIDIA Open Model License, and adapted to the characters by hikomi.

Hikomi, the character the app is named after, has a 3D model of hikomi's own: a body made in VRoid Studio by pixiv Inc., whose terms allow what is made with it to be used commercially, with Hikomi's hair, face, eyes, clothes and accessories designed for hikomi and finished in Blender. It is Hikomi's alone and isn't offered in the creator. Ren, hikomi's second signature character, is made the same way: a body and outfit parts from VRoid Studio, with a hairstyle modelled for hikomi in Blender; Ren's model is Ren's alone too, and Ren's voice comes from a public-domain LibriVox recording (Patrick Saville reading Peter Pan). Until 30 September 2026 Hikomi appeared as Hiyori Momose, a sample model by Live2D Inc., used unchanged under Live2D's Free Material License, and a character made on that model keeps it. This content uses sample data owned and copyrighted by Live2D Inc. Hikomi's voice is made from a sample reference clip published with the open-source riko_project (github.com/rayenfeng/riko_project).

hikomi is built with open-source software, including three.js and three-vrm, and with Live2D Cubism Core, which belongs to Live2D Inc. and is used under Live2D's licence. Those remain their owners' property. Claude is made by Anthropic; Qwen3-TTS is made by Alibaba Cloud, VoxCPM2 by OpenBMB and Resemble Enhance by Resemble AI; VRoid is a trademark of pixiv Inc.; Live2D is a trademark of Live2D Inc.; NVIDIA is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation. hikomi isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.

What you can do with them

You may use hikomi's characters inside hikomi for your own use, and show them in streams, videos and posts as long as it's clear they are AI characters from hikomi. You may not extract, copy, redistribute or sell their models, textures, animations, voices or instructions, or use them outside hikomi. The exceptions are the export of a character you made and the moves that come with an export, both described under CHARACTERS YOU MAKE.

Characters you make

When you make a character, you start from one of hikomi's bodies (female or male) and one of the voices the creator offers (or, if you use "Make a new voice from the personality", a new voice made for the character - see below) - changing its hairstyle, outfit, colours, sizes, accessories and other details in the creator if you like, and the voice's pitch, speed, warmth and liveliness - and write its personality. The personality you write is yours; the body, the variations the creator offers, and the voice, shaped or not, stay hikomi's (and, for what was built on VRoid's sample model or made in VRoid Studio, subject to pixiv's conditions) - except that in the desktop app the body can be a model of your own, as below. Nothing is uploaded to make a character. Your characters are private to your account: nobody else can see or use them, and we don't publish, sell or share them.

A new voice made from the personality (in the creator, where it is offered) is generated by an AI model running on hikomi's own servers: Qwen3-TTS, by Alibaba Cloud (Apache 2.0 licence), or VoxCPM2, by OpenBMB (also Apache 2.0) if hikomi uses it instead - the model that made a voice is recorded with it. Each recording is then cleaned up by Resemble Enhance, by Resemble AI (MIT licence), which also runs on hikomi's own servers; the clean-up that was used is recorded with the voice too. It is not a recording of any person and is not made from anyone's voice: the model is given only a written description of the kind of voice wanted, which hikomi's code writes from the answers an automated check gives about the personality. It is always an adult voice, and a personality that asks for a real person's voice, or a child's, is refused. A voice you make is private to your account: nobody else can hear or use it, and we don't publish, sell or share it.

Exporting a character you made on one of hikomi's own bodies (female or male) as a VRM file isn't available yet: the creator is moving to new bodies and parts of hikomi's own. The bodies, hairstyles and outfits the creator offers today were made with VRoid Studio by pixiv Inc.: Aoi's body is built on pixiv's sample model AvatarSample_A, and the male body, the hairstyles and the outfits were made by hikomi in VRoid Studio from its preset items. VRoid Studio and its preset items stay pixiv Inc.'s. What you wrote for the character, its name and personality, is yours. Hikomi's and Ren's models are never exported.

In the desktop app you can export a model you brought (a VRM 1.0, GLB, glTF or FBX file) as a VRM file. Exporting writes the model out again as a new file, which counts as changing it, so a model you brought may be exported only when its own terms allow changes: a VRM's terms are read from its file and shown, its author's terms travel inside the exported file unchanged (except that the licence address is written in its standard spelling and the model's picture is drawn again as a square - or, for a GLB or glTF that carries a VRM's terms, replaced by a picture of the model's face) and must stay with it, and where they forbid passing the file on it is for your own computer. A GLB or glTF that carries a VRM's terms is exported on them, like a VRM. Any other GLB, glTF or FBX carries no terms of its own: you confirm that you made it or have the right to change it and convert it to another format, and the file records that it was converted and what the original said about its author; a Creative Commons licence it names - in English, by its name, its short code (like CC BY-ND) or its creativecommons.org address - in its own words, in its file name or its name, or in a readme kept with it, is followed (the strictest, where several are named); one named in another language, or only in plain words, is not read by hikomi. hikomi gives you no rights in a model that its author hasn't given you, and doesn't receive the model or the file. Hikomi's and Ren's models are never exported.

In the desktop app an export can also come with a zip of hikomi's body moves - waving, nodding, bowing and the like - as VRM Animation files (a standard format for moves on VRM characters). The export window has a box for it, ticked to start, and the zip is made on your computer and saved where you choose, after the file. The moves are for use with the model you exported. The moves were made for hikomi with NVIDIA Kimodo, a motion model by NVIDIA used under the NVIDIA Open Model License, which claims no rights in what the model makes, and were picked and adapted by hikomi; each file says so, and so does the README in the zip. Only the moves are in the zip: no character's model, look or voice - none of hikomi's characters, Hikomi, Ren or Aoi, is in it. It is the one way hikomi's animations leave hikomi, and it gives you no right to take hikomi's other animations, models or voices out of the app. hikomi doesn't receive the zip and can't see what is done with it afterwards.

In the desktop app you can give a character you make a 3D model file of your own (a VRM, an MMD model, or a GLB, glTF, FBX or Blender file). It stays on your computer: hikomi doesn't receive, host or share it, and on any other device the character shows one of hikomi's bodies, or its picture, instead. Use only models you have the right to use, and respect their authors' terms. Most fan-made models forbid redistribution and commercial use; keeping one on your own computer for a character only you see is how this feature is meant to be used, and hikomi gives you no rights in a model that its author hasn't given you. A model you bring stays under its author's terms, which hikomi reads from the file and shows when you add it, also for a model in a zip (for an MMD model, its comment and the readme that came with it) - hikomi can't check that they are followed, so reading and following them is up to you. When you add a model you confirm that you have the right to use it for your own personal use. If you choose to keep a small picture of the model with your account, we host that picture for you alone, never publish or share it, and delete it when you turn the choice off; the same rule applies - use only models you have the right to use. hikomi opens a Blender file with the copy of Blender already installed on your computer; Blender isn't part of hikomi, and hikomi neither includes nor distributes it.

Pictures you add as backgrounds stay on your own device and are never sent to hikomi, so we don't host or share them. Use pictures you have the right to use.

Don't make a character of someone else's creation (from a game, anime, book or other franchise) unless you have the right to, and don't make one that imitates a real person other than you - in its voice either: the creator won't fit a voice to, or make a new voice for, a personality that asks for a real person's.

Reporting something that infringes your rights

If you believe something on hikomi infringes your copyright or other rights - including a character that imitates you, your voice or your work - write to us through the contact form at gethikomi.com/contact and pick "Copyright or takedown". You don't need an account. Please include:

your name and how to reach you, and whether you are the rights holder or act for them;
what the work or right is;
where it appears on hikomi, as precisely as you can;
why you believe the use isn't allowed;
a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised, that your notice is accurate, and that you are the rights holder or authorised to act for them - with your full name as your signature.

If something is missing, send it anyway and we'll ask. We accept notices in the form the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 512) and the EU Digital Services Act describe.

What happens next

We look at every notice within 3 working days. If it's well-founded, we remove or disable the content and, where it belongs to someone's account, tell them what was removed and why. They can reply with their side through the contact form; if a notice turns out to be mistaken, we put the content back and tell you. Accounts that repeatedly infringe other people's rights are closed.

Please don't send a notice you know to be false - it can have legal consequences, and it takes time away from real ones.