Animated films like the famous Japanese filmmaker Miyazaki Hayao are not made in a hurry. Intricate hand-drawn and paying attention to every detail can slowly and potentially become a yearly process.
Alternatively, you can ask ChatGpt to turn the old photos into faxes of Miyazaki's work in just a few seconds.
Many people have done exactly that Openai released an update to ChatGPT on Tuesday to improve its image generation technology. Currently, users who ask the platform to render images in Studio Ghibli style can view photos that don't look out of place in the film “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Spirited Away.”
On social media, users quickly began posting Ghibli-style images. They ranged from selfies and family photos to memes. Some people have used new features in ChatGpt to create renderings of violent or dark images, such as the World Trade Center Tower, which fell on September 11th and the murder of George Floyd.
Openai CEO Sam Altman has turned X's profile picture into a Ghibli Ride image, posting a joke about the sudden popularity of filters and how it overcame the previous, more important work.
Kouka Webb, a dietitian who lives in Tribeca, has turned her wedding photos into Studio Gibrick Frame. Webb, who grew up in Japan at the age of 28, said she was moving surprisingly well to see herself and her husband stylized in this way.
“My Japanese mother has passed away and I feel really homesick,” she said. “I found a lot of joy in making those images, and it was a fun way to turn memories into the form I grew up in.”
She posted a photo on Tiktok. There, she said she received criticism from several commenters for using artificial intelligence instead of commissioning human artists.
Online, some users have also expressed concern about the use of image generation features. In a 2016 documentary, Miyazaki called AI “an insult to life itself.” After the sudden popularity of the filter, clips from the film were distributed in X. (Studio Ghibli-inspired AI art has been popular in the past, but the latest offering of Openai is perhaps the most realistic iteration of Miyazaki's style.)
As AI platforms become more powerful and more popular, more and more people in the creative field, including writers, actors, musicians, visual artists and more express their frustration.
“For many people whose art was stolen, they don't consider it to be personal. “Oh, well, it's just style. You can't write style,” said Jonathan Ram, a storyboard artist who worked for the New York Times in late 2022, when discussing Rensa AI, another image generation platform. “But for us, we argue that our style is actually our identity. That's what makes us stand out from each other. That's what makes us marketable for our clients.”
In 2024, a group of writers and musicians, a group of musicians, including actor Julianne Moore and radio head of musician Tom Yorke, signed an open letter criticizing the use of “using uncertified works of creative works” to train AI models, including ChatGpt.
(The New York Times filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Openai and its partner Microsoft, accusing them of using publicly available work without permission to train artificial intelligence. They denied those claims.)
Emily Belganza, a 32-year-old sculptor who lives in Long Island City, said she will use Chatgup to turn some memes into Ghibli-style photos. She was impressed by the accuracy and details, but she said she was worried that the rise of such technology would mean creative work, and consider it a “threat.”
By Thursday, Berganza said ChatGpt appears to be tightening the restrictions on images users have allowed Ghiblifis.
“Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible,” Openai spokesperson Taya Christianson said in an email. “We continue to hinder generations with the style of individual living artists, but allow for a wider range of studio styles. We use this to generate and share original fan work that are truly fun and inspired.”
Christianson also pointed to Openai's explanation of the latest update. This said the platform “chosen to opt for a conservative approach” with its latest image generation update.
“I'm still developing ideas about how it will affect many of these artists and illustrators like the future,” Belganza said. “But again, I have to be open to the concept of how this is integrated into our society,” she said she didn't want to be late.
