Studio Ghibli Trend – With more and more AI invading our spaces – in every field – the world must look at devising an internationally accepted standard for acknowledging
original art / creation / writing, writes Rajeshwari Kalyanam
OpenAI’s latest rage – the AI generated Studio Ghibli-style images have taken internet by storm with celebrities and common folk continuing to experiment with the latest image generation tool in ChatGPT to recreate their pictures in the style of the popular Studio Ghibli-style images.
Hayao Miyazaki
Studio Ghibli co-founded by animation directors – artists Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, with producer Toshio Suzuki at the helm have created timeless classic animation films – many of them that went on to win awards and even Oscar nominations. The studio is best known for its charming hand-drawn animation characters using watercolour backgrounds that have gained a cult status. Today, when the whole world is going gaga over AI generated Ghibli style images – purists and art community aren’t thrilled. They call this theft of creativity and artist’s right over his original art.
A few years ago, when the concept in its crude form was shown to the artist and co-founder Hayao Miyazaki he called it disgusting. His exact words were – “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.”
However, lines blurring between original and the AI generated – especially in cases like this when AI is freely copying and recreating legendary artist’s style – the argument of what is ethical and where does one draw a line as unethical gains ground.
Orijit sen, Indian graphic artist and designer doesn’t mince words. He expresses his thoughts via a social media post – “Tech bros who lack the talent, imagination, sensitivity and dedication to create real art have now come up with AI that copies Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. And all of you equally dim-witted consumers who are gleefully using it for your ephemeral delight, please know that you are destroying great art. Like stupid modern-day barbarians.”
While he is pretty harsh with his views – one wonders if the millions of users of the internet across the world truly understand the difference between respectful inspiration and blatant copying. Should the end user be blamed in this case? For all you know he is just following a trend!
Shouldn’t the technology – in this case – Sam Altman’s OpenAI be blamed for not even giving credit to the artist and more importantly take his permission.
Popular show friends scene recreated using OpenAi
Sahid SK- a popular AI Creator online says (on his social media handle) – Art styles don’t have copyrights! Hayao Miyazaki is respected around the world, and his incredible creations at Studio Ghibli have entertained masses and inspired thousands, including myself. His unique creativity and perfect balance are genuinely unmatched, but can anyone actually copyright their art style? Honestly, I don’t think so! People have been copying art styles for thousands of years, from Darwin and Van Gogh to Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Miyazaki himself.
Sahid SK represents the current generation of internet users with AI on their hand who forget there is this distinct line that differentiates inspiration from copy.
More importantly, one cannot compare a hugely popular well established AI tool company with faceless mass that copies other people’s creativity. It is still called theft in the normal world.
THE BOY AND THE HERON from Hayao Miyazaki
A silver lining to this argument is what Orijit Sen says – that – real art has survived through millenia. It will live through this as well. Because art is not merely an end-product. It is a process, an act, a way of thinking and being.
Popular Actor Amitabh Bachchan Posts his AI Generated Ghibli Image on Twitter
Paul Tassi in his article on Forbes – The ChatGPT 4o Studio Ghibli AI Trend is the ultimate Heartbreak – calls the trend – “just devastating to watch unfold as a fan of not just Ghibli, but animation and artwork more generally”
However, there is no escape from the mind boggling scope of AI and this even he seems to agree. “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.”
So what’s the way out?
With more and more AI invading our spaces – in every field – the world must look at devising an internationally accepted standard for acknowledging original art / creation / writing.
Afterall copyright was created for the same purpose. It was introduced way back in 1710 to protect authors from others copying their books and rest is history.
Broadly speaking, in case of ChatGPT using Ghibli style for recreating images – it may not be falling under infringement for the sole reason that there is no commercial angle to this. Moreover, ChatGPT is not affecting any original work of Studio Ghibli directly.
The subject of copyrights and Artificial Intelligence is being studied by experts who are contemplating on the various aspects before formulating a decisive structure. Until we arrive at a conclusive solution – it just boils down to moral obligation.
Unless AI giants view this from a moral lens and begin to set an example by giving credit to the original artists and creators – as journalist Paul Tassi mentions it is just exhausting to fight such viral trends.
