Spirited Away director says AI art is an ‘insult to life’ in harsh reaction to viral trend

Beloved Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki’s harsh condemnation of AI has resurfaced on social media as X is being flooded by controversial images imitating his animation style

Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki has gone viral on social media for his harsh condemnation of AI art in the wake of ChatGPT’s new update. His comments have created a storm online, reawakening the debate over the ethics of creating AI art.

Having directed beloved animated works like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao has cemented himself as one of the world’s most renowned artists. His latest movie, The Boy and The Heron, currently holds an impressive Rotten Tomatoes rating of 96%. On the back OpenAI’s GPT-4o update earlier this week, which includes a feature allowing users to generate images in various styles, social media users have been using it to convert pictures and photos into Ghibli-style animation.

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However, fans of Hayao’s work have resurfaced a clip from 2016, in which the animator expressed the utmost disapproval towards AI art. “I am utterly disgusted,” he is recorded saying, in reaction to a presentation on AI in animation. “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”

Looking at an artificially generated image of a zombie-like creature crawling on the ground, he then added, “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” The statement provided a resounding condemnation over the artificially created artwork.

Despite being almost a decade old, Hayao’s criticism has become more relevant than ever as hundreds of AI-generated images are going viral across X. One viral post depicts Bollywood movies being transformed into Ghibli works, while others have converted images from popular series like Severance into the distinctive art-style.

Captioning an anime Donald Trump in discussion with Hilary Clinton, the poster asked: “I’m having way too much fun with these. Any ideas?” The comments were quick to chime in with more suggestions, including memes like Donald Trump eating McDonald’s.

Technically, ChatGPT doesn’t allow users to depict real-life persons in specific art-styles. However, many users have been sharing their prompts in the comments, claiming to have “gaslit” OpenAI into obeying their requests. This includes manipulating the prompt by using roundabout phrases such as “Studio Ghibli style” rather than outright asking it to imitate the distinctive artwork.

But while a large portion of the Internet has been having fun with the gimmick, there are others who have been pushing back against the images. They’ve been citing both Hayao’s own feelings on the subject and the questionable ethics involved in creating AI art.

One account criticised the AI posts, saying: “The whole Studio Ghibli AI trend honestly gives me second-hand embarrassment knowing how hard Hayao Miyazaki has fought to retain the identity of his films and how many of you are this willing to make a farce out of decades of artistry because you don’t actually value it”.

Many fans also argued that the use of ChatGPT goes against Studio Ghibli’s environmentalist messaging. As one user wrote: “It is not only bad it’s disrespectful to Miyazaki’s legacy and everything the man stood for and portrayed in his art.” Many of the director’s films touch on topics such as the human destruction of nature. For example, the much-loved classic Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind is set in a dystopian future where the few surviving humans left exist in semi-hospitable environments, while the rest of Earth has been transformed into a toxic jungle.

Ironically, ChatGPT could be turning his chilling vision into a reality. According to recent research, each interaction with the bot burns through approximately half a litre of water. Globally, ChatGPT uses over 39 million gallons of water a day; the equivalent of everyone in Taiwan flushing their toilets at once, based on data from Business Energy UK.

One account wrote: “every single one of [Hayao’s] films are about human greed and their disrespect for nature destroying the world. This slop burns through so much energy.” It appears that while the Internet enjoys the aesthetics of Studio Ghibli’s art, they’ve failed to appreciate its meaning.