OpenAI recently announced GPT-4o, which includes a new feature that allows users to turn their own images into a Studio Ghibli style drawing. The new update was so popular that it led to delays and strains on ChatGPT servers. This new feature has been used to remake memes into Studio Ghibli style, but also to “Ghibli-fy” personal photos that people send to their ChatGPT bot.
Many people on social media immediately responded to the trend, saying that the use of AI to “Studio Ghibli-fy” pictures was disrespectful towards Miyazaki, who put his life’s work into creating imaginative and passionate art to give to others in the form of Studio Ghibli films, rather than to be a filter people can just use for their pictures.
Users claim that there is no harm in what they are doing with AI, some even saying that AI draws better than Miyazaki and the Studio Ghibli team. They don’t do it to disrespect Miyazaki’s work, but to use it for fun in their lives. This idea received much criticism, some other artists saying it would be better to try to draw it themselves, commission an artist to try to do it for them, or not do it at all.
“That’s using Ghibli’s branding, their name, their work, their reputation, to promote (OpenAI) products, it’s an insult. It’s exploitation,” Artist Kayla Ortiz says.
Further rage at the trend was seen when Donald Trump and the White House used the feature. They had used it to “Ghibli-fy” an image of a crying woman’s ICE arrest and deportation. This received major disapproval from many people, seeing that the White House had tried to soften the nature of deportation, a heavy subject and another controversy in America.
Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation company founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki. Based in Koganei, Tokyo, Studio Ghibli received worldwide recognition after its film Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, the first non-English film to do so. Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron won the same award again in 2023. Other popular Studio Ghibli films include Princess Mononoke (1997), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and many others. These films have captured the hearts of many viewers across the world, and are still recognized and watched to this day.
One aspect of Studio Ghibli that is deemed special is its animation and unique art style. Every scene in a Studio Ghibli movie is hand-drawn in Miyazaki’s special art style, never relying on CGI. Despite how long and tedious drawing each scene is, every character, scene, and place has a meticulous and realistic flow, and immense amounts of drawn details.
One scene from The Wind Rises was a four-second, busy, crowd scene. Despite how short the clip was, the four-second animation took a whole year and three months to draw. Each person in the crowd had a clear expression, details, and many other aspects. Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki have gained a good deal of respect for the dedication and attributes in their works.
As the AI Studio Ghibli images gained more attention on social media, Miyazaki’s comments on AI in his work from 2016 resurfaced. He then claimed he would “never wish to incorporate this technology into [his] work at all.” Miyazaki went as far to claim AI generated art was “an insult to life itself,” and that “we humans are losing faith in ourselves.” In other words, Miyazaki has made it very clear that he does not want AI to dabble into art, especially his own.
Eventually, the “Studio Ghibli-fy” idea will die down, as it’s just a trend, a filter. But the main cause of concern for many lies in how easily AI can replicate one’s life-long work and unique style. This makes art seem discardable and ordinary, as it can be easily remade by AI. If it can happen to Hayao Miyazaki, who knows what other artists and art styles could be next.
