When OpenAI debuted its image-generation feature in ChatGPT last week, social media exploded when users realized that they could make AI-generated images that looked like something out of an animated film from Studio Ghibli. Fans hoped that Studio Ghibli mastermind Hayao Miyazaki would take a stand, but the 84-year-old animator has remained silent. In the Ghibli fan subreddit, however, fans are enforcing a long-standing ban against AI art.
“I just noticed about a dozen different ‘BAN AI NOW’ posts here seemingly spurred on by an influx of AI Ghibli art on other sites,” a moderator posted to the Ghibli subreddit last week. “We don’t allow AI art. We haven’t allowed it basically since it became a thing.”
These fans don’t see the AI-generated copies as an homage to the iconic artist. Rather, these generative AI models are trained on copyrighted images from artists like Miyazaki, who never gave OpenAI or any of its competitors permission to use their work as such.
This issue is one that’s impacted other creators and writers, too. The New York Times and other publishers have sued OpenAI, alleging that the company used its copyrighted materials to train its models without payment or consent. Similar complaints have been filed against Meta and Midjourney.
The Ghibli situation struck a particularly strong nerve among fans since the studio’s mastermind, Hayao Miyazaki, has been vocal about his hatred for AI-generated artwork.
“I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting,” Miyazaki said in documentary footage from 2016 in which he was shown AI-generated 3D animation. “Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted.”
People have also generated portraits in the style of Pixar movies or Dr. Seuss illustrations. Even the White House’s X account posted a Ghibli-style image, crudely mocking a woman for crying while being handcuffed by ICE.
As more “Ghiblified” images spread across the internet, fans of the legendary 84-year-old animator resurfaced his commentary to discourage others from imitating his work, but the damage had already been done. Of course, not all of these are Ghibli-style images, but the popularity of these images has stretched the AI company’s capacity.
OpenAI’s Brad Lightcap, who oversees day-to-day operations at the company, said that over 130 million users have generated more than 700 million images with this new ChatGPT feature.
“The range of visual creativity has been extremely inspiring,” Lightcap wrote.
