One Piece Fan Letter director criticizes Ghibli AI trend
One Piece Fan Letter director Migumi Ishitani recently voiced her anger towards OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli trend, which allowed ChatGPT users to generate themselves as characters in Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic art style.
Ishitani, whose recent works have been described as a masterpiece by One Piece fans, expressed her disapproval with the recent trend and wrote on Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter), “You’ve tainted Ghibli… I won’t forgive you…”
One Piece Fan Letter director criticizes Ghibli AI trend
Similar artists from the industry and social media also condemned OpenAI’s move, calling it “disrespectful” and “inhumane” towards Hayao Miyazaki and his beloved animation studio. This sparked a fire inside several artists who started sharing Ghibli-inspired artworks drawn by them, in protest of the ongoing AI trend.
Artists showcased their drawings with captions such as “the studio ghibli fanart without ai.”
Studio Ghibli is best known for its stunning 2D animation and heartfelt storytelling. With legendary director Hayao Miyazaki on top, the studio is best known for producing some of the biggest movies in Japan’s history, including Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Wind Rises, and many more.
The trend swarmed several social media platforms, with many individuals, celebrities, and brands sharing AI-generated photos on their accounts. Some even generated photos using movies and series as a base, such as Alien, Star Wars, and Severance.
Moreover, several others brought politics into the matter and showcased Ghibli-inspired AI photos of US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Despite sparking outrage from artists and many social media users, ChatGPT recently recorded over 150 million active users in the past week because of the trend, with app downloads seeing an increase of about 5% in the US and 11% globally, while in-app purchases grew by 6%.
Why is the Ghibli AI trend problematic?
To put it simply, this new trend takes away what makes us human by summarizing years of effort and experience with a soulless command prompt. Artists such as Hayao Miyazaki, Migumi Ishitani, and many more have gone through years of dedication to perfect their craft, giving cinema fans unforgettable experiences, only for it to be stolen and mass-generated using an AI chatbot like ChatGPT.
Copyright concerns were also recently raised by lawyer Evan Brown, who said, “The legal landscape of AI-generated images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s distinctive style is an uncertain terrain. Copyright law has generally protected only specific expressions rather than artistic styles themselves.”
Back in 2016, Miyazaki said, “This is an insult to life itself.” He further added, “I am utterly disgusted, I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”
While many claim that the comments were made against AI, Miyazaki’s response was in disapproval of a 3D technology showcasing a disfigured individual crawling weirdly on the ground.
