Spirited Away
OpenAI has opened Pandora’s Box when it comes to AI image generation, something that of course has existed for a few years now, typing prompts into places like Midjourney or Dall-E mainly. But now, Chat GPT 4o has its own form of image generation, specifically the ability to not just generate photos, but upload them and have them changed into a specific style with ease.
This has sparked a trend on Twitter based around the beloved Studio Ghibli collection of animated films spearheaded by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, all of which with a signature look that has never been replicated. Until it’s now where it’s being replicated by AI.
People are putting in their own photos, adapting memes into the format. I even saw an NFT Ape rendered in the style and plastered on Twitter as an actual paid ad.
For any artist or fan of animation, the Ghibli trend based on this new AI tech feels like the ultimate heartbreak. If there was ever a single studio or animator who would never, ever get anywhere near this trend it’s Miyazaki and Ghibli, so to see it plastered all over the internet as the next big demonstration of AI tech is a gut punch. Miyazaki himself famously blasted an AI tech demo for animation:
“I am utterly disgusted. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel this is an insult to life itself.”
And yet, here we are. The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has just changed his profile picture to a Ghibli version of himself.
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OpenAI may have quickly realized this may result in some problems, as it has already tried to put some guardrails in place in the wake of this trend, where sometimes attempting to literally put “Studio Ghibli style” in prompt will shoot back a message about not being able to make it because of restrictions. But there are many ways people have gotten around this.
I cannot pretend what OpenAI has just put out with this kind of image generation and modification is technically wild to see. There are certainly mountains of horrific AI art out there, but it would be disingenuous to not be somewhat awestruck this tech exists. But creatively, morally, this is horrifying. AI continues to march toward the ravaging of all creative fields. Artists, animators, writers may hate it, but they’re not the target. The target are people who enjoy making and posting Studio Ghibli memes online, and deem all of this AI tech “good enough” when contrasted against human work. And yes, it is getting more and more convincing, unfortunately.
This is just devastating to watch unfold as a fan of not just Ghibli, but animation and artwork more generally. The idea that this tide can even be fought feels like it’s quickly draining.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
