The release of OpenAI’s new image generator for ChatGPT has seen a surge of users creating heaps of Studio Ghibli-inspired images using the AI model, seemingly going against the staunchly anti-AI philosophy of the legendary animation studio’s co-founder: Hayao Miyazaki.
On social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, users shared their own AI-created images of film stills and personal pictures re-imagined in the distinctly soft style of Studio Ghibli.
This has resulted in a hefty amount of backlash from Ghibli fans, with one X user stating that it is “glaringly obvious how little people respect art and especially artists” due to the influx of AI art being produced online.
Another X user commented that the AI Ghibli art trend gave them “secondhand embarrassment”, and that the trend goes against Mizayaki’s creative ethos.
“The whole Studio Ghibli AI trend honestly gives me second-hand embarrassment,” the user wrote.
“Knowing how hard Hayao Miyazaki has fought to retain the identity of his films, and how many of you are this willing to make a farce out of decades of artistry because you don’t actually value it.”
X user @slimjosa stated that the trend was an “embarassment”. (Source: X)
In a Japan Broadcasting Corporation documentary from 2016, Miyazaki described AI art as an “insult to life itself” when he was shown an example of AI animation.
While the animation shown in the almost decade-old documentary wasn’t entirely created by AI technology but was rather a presentation showing the future capabilities of AI-created art, the producers of the animation stated that they wanted to “build a machine that can draw pictures like humans do” in the future.
“I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting,” Miyazaki said in response.
“Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is or whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted.
“I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my art at all. I strongly feel like this is an insult to life itself.”
Despite the heavy controversy AI art has sparked online, it is estimated that AI will disrupt “countless” animation jobs in the next three years, per animation news source CartoonBrew.
In a report published by The Animation Guild in 2023, the animation industry is set to face “an era of disruption” due to AI, and that two-thirds of 300 business leaders surveyed in the aforementioned report believe that the technology will replace job titles in the next few years.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger stated last week that AI is the “most powerful technology that our company has ever seen”, and that Disney has already begun to experiment with AI art and software, per The Hollywood Reporter.
