Studio Ghibli still hasn’t officially commented on the recent craze of making AI art in Hayao Miyazaki’s style, though Miyazaki’s previous anti-AI comments have been making the rounds. But a number of people have shared their thoughts, negative or positive, including some in the anime and animation worlds.
One of those is Henry Thurlow, an American whose credentials include One Piece, Attack on Titan, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Pokémon and more. He was not shy about how much he didn’t approve.
“I’m not sure what exactly these folks making AI Ghibli images even think they’re accomplishing, beyond offending & upsetting the original artists (which you’d assume they’re fans of) I mean, you can’t (& will never) make profitable movies w/ this stuff. It’s akin to trolling,” he remarked. “Folks who say this is ‘democratizing’ art are just fooling themselves, if not outright lying. You can’t ‘democratize’ being a good artist or director the same way you can’t democratize becoming an Olympic athlete. It takes a lifetime of effort. That’s never gonna change.”
He continued, “If you don’t have the time to dedicate to becoming an amazing chef, you don’t deserve a Michelin star. If you don’t have time to dedicate to acting, you don’t deserve an Oscar. And if you don’t have the time to dedicate to animation/art, then stay the f**k out of my industry. If you’re using it as a ‘fun little thing to just laugh with friends about’ then no one would mistake my comments about being about them. This is obviously directed at people who plan on trying to ‘use’ these obnoxious softwares to advance a career (or scheme).”
In the more general world of animation, Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch called out OpenAI CEO Sam Altman online, saying, “Wow, congrats! Using Ghibli’s work to train your model and Ghibli’s name to promote it really helped you generate huge revenue! And the fact that you’re planning on paying a big royalty check to Ghibli proves you’re a great guy, too!”
The point is that OpenAI is not going to give Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli anything for using their style. Meanwhile, a federal judge has given the go-ahead for The New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI to proceed, because NYT alleges that OpenAI trained ChatGPT on their copyrighted articles without asking. Concept illustrator Reid Southen brought this up online to Altman, writing, “Keep posting about how many users you’re gaining after the Ghibli stunt, it only strengthens the [New York Times’] case against you, genius.”
Source: AnimeMojo, The Hollywood Reporter
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.