Last night (IST), OpenAI founder Sam Altman updated his display image on X to a Ghibli-style AI picture. Not only did he tweet “changed my pfp but maybe someone will make me a better one,” but his SNS bio also reads, “AI is cool I guess.”

Altman may have launched the Ghibli AI image ship, but it was the users who ultimately took the trend to greater heights. As netizens lost all calm with the legendary anime studio become an internet trend, ChatGPT came to users’ rescue as they too hoped to be create their own versions in the ever-so-aesthetic world of anime.

Indian users flipped scenes from iconic Bollywood movies into their reimagined Ghibli alternatives. Others looked at their childhood photos and whatnot for the major transformation. As the Ghibli-fication of the Internet blew up immeasurably, more and more prompts about how to “create a Studio Ghibli version of this image” flooded social media.

What was always venerated as the applause-worthy Japanese animation studio behind heart-piercing masterpieces like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and more was soon reduced to an Internet trend.

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Everywhere you turned, a new Ghibli-fied vision unveiled itself, all thanks to the image-generation feature of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. However, in the midst of the chaos caused by Ghibli’s new viral status, its co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s words echoed through the world wide web.

Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki reportedly on AI-generated art

The legendary Japanese animator and filmmaker whose films Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron secured the Best Animated Feature at the 75th and 96th editions of the Academy Awards, respectively, once furiously reprimanded the use of AI-generated projects. The resurfaced old video of a Studio Ghibli presentation shows Miyazaki unleashing his vehement criticism of an animation made by artificial intelligence.

Hayao Miyazaki appeared utterly disgruntled throughout the presentation and he ultimately voiced his concerns as well. “Whoever created this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever,” he said of unnatural-looking video in front of him. “I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”

As he firmly put his foot down on the issue, he added, “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”

Amid the already surging craze for AI, Miyazaki’s opinion of AI-generated art has added fuel to the growing debate associated with the hot topic. As always, some agreed with the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s take on AI art, others visibly did not.

Meanwhile, another group of netizens also pointed out that the old video has been pulled out of context. They note that Miyazaki was in fact talking about “emotionless caricatures created by younger artists” and not AI art. Some also added the context: “In the 2016 clip, Miyazaki does not refer to modern AI-generated images. In the full clip, he discusses a 3D model of crawling zombies, which he considers a disrespectful portrayal of disabled people.”

Nevertheless, the resurfaced clip has done its bit in sparking another hefty discussion around authenticity, ethics and emotional depth inspiring art.

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Studio Ghibli’s The Wind Rises famous crowd scene invites praise again

In addition to the clip in focus, many also redirected their attention to the mind-boggling and painstaking efforts put in to create a meticulously crafted crowd scene of the war anime film The Wind Rises. The documentary 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki reveres the filmmaker, saying, “Drawing a crowd takes time and effort, so animators generally avoid it. But not Miyazaki.” Ultimately, the merely four-second shot took the animation team a year and three months to complete, but most importantly, they’re seen sketching the elements of the scene by hand.

Once completed, Miyazaki’s exchange with one of his animators goes as follows:

Him: “Good job”

Eiji Yamamori: “It’s so short, though.”

Him: “But it was worth it.”

For the unversed, Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 alongside fellow influential director Isao Takahata.