Hayao Miyazaki had savage response to AI before ChatGPT Studio Ghibli images went viral
Studio Ghibli/X: BarseeAfter OpenAI launched a new AI image generator on ChatGPT, people have been using it to create their own Studio Ghibli-style images. Just know, you do not have Hayao Miyazaki’s blessing.
The use of AI, especially in movies and television, is incredibly divisive. For example, when The Brutalist used artificial intelligence (specifically, Respeecher) to enhance Hungarian dialogue, it threatened to derail the movie’s Oscars campaign.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Amazon’s House of David series used generative AI (in many people’s eyes, this is the bad kind) to give its scenes more “horsepower.”
Now, ChatGPT users are obsessing over OpenAI’s 4o image generator, said to be its “most advanced” yet. It’s allowed people to create uncanny Studio Ghibli versions of themselves, movie characters, and memes, but don’t expect Miyazaki to find your imitation flattering.
Hayao Miyazaki hates AI
In a 2016 NHK special, Miyazaki was shown a demo of AI-generated animation; specifically of a zombie-esque creature.
It reminded him of a friend with a disability, but he stressed: “Thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find [it] interesting.
“Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
When he was told that the animators hoped to create an AI that “draws pictures like humans do”, he responded: “I feel like we are nearing to the end of the times. We humans are losing faith in ourselves.”
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Nearly 10 years later, people are using AI to replicate Studio Ghibli’s art style. For example, one thread has been viewed nearly 14 million times and amassed over 105,000 likes, showing Ghibli variants of Yusuf Dikeç (the Turkish shooter from the Olympics), the meme of the man turning around and looking at another woman, and the young girl smiling in front of a fire.
“Don’t do the AI Studio Ghibli thing, don’t talk to Grok… these things aren’t hard to avoid. Quit using AI bullsh*t,” one user wrote. “Every single person posting Ghibli AI has miserably failed to understand Ghibli as an art form,” another wrote.
In the meantime, check out our ranking of the best anime movies of all time and find out more about Netflix’s new anime show dropping in April.
