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A new AI trend has sparked debate, with users prompting DALL-E, Open AI’s software for image generation, to create cartoon versions of personal images. This led animation fans to begin creating AI-generated art in the style of the legendary animation studio, Studio Ghibli.
With resume-boasting Academy awards and other honors, Ghibli is revered for its emotional, thought-provoking stories and unbelievably detailed animation, which is done nearly all by hand.
The AI-generated pictures mimic the style and aesthetic of original Ghibli films but lack many of the fine details found in the real works. For casual fans, it is a fun trend to imagine themselves within the world of Ghibli, but for true fans of Hayao Miyazaki’s work, it is deeply disrespectful
Ghibli’s creator, Hayao Miyazaki, is regarded as a legend in animation and art in general. He is respected for his meticulous attention to detail and weaving creative social commentary into the plots of his movies. From his creative process to the uniqueness of his characters' personalities and designs, Miyazaki personifies the artist's spirit with every detail, which masterfully captures emotion.
Miyazaki previously stated he does not want to use AI in his work and is disgusted at animation generated by AI being called “art.” In a viral online clip, a group of animators presented Miyazaki with a new AI tool that made an animation of a monster that used its head to walk. An animator explains the AI was able to create something so creepy because it had no concept of how painful walking on one's head would be — they argued the tool was helpful because it could have inhuman ideas.
“Every morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability,” Miyazaki responded. “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscles can’t reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is.”
AI cannot comprehend pain — the same way it cannot comprehend love or any other human emotion because it is not human. Without human emotion, there can't be human expression; we are left with a hollow copy of what a machine is guessing to be the human experience.
After a long pause, Miyazaki continued.
“I am utterly disgusted,” he said in the video. “If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it, but I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
This issue may seem harmless, and many may not view AI in art as an issue at all and see it as a more efficient way to create content we enjoy. To those people, I ask them to consider Miyazaki's final comment first.
Art is the expression of one's creativity through various mediums to convey emotion. Creativity, both natural and honed, allows artists to express relatable emotions and connect to shared human experiences. This is generally how we have understood art, but this is being challenged for the first time in human history.
To those who think the creator behind art is irrelevant, I ask what we as consumers gain when we cut the process out of everything in life and if it is worth the repercussions. Do we want our food served in under five minutes, the cast to immediately take the stage after intermission or art that otherwise would take hundreds of hours of pure dedication to be made in a few seconds. What happens in the years an artist spends painting a canvas or a musician uses to create songs? Art is not created in the conception of an idea or in its final product, it is molded by joy, anger, love, sadness and all the other emotions an artist uses. It's the process in between that we crave in art whether consumers realize it or not. Once we lost appreciation for that process, we lose appreciation for the emotions that define the human experience
So, when you see your little brother and his buddies post a picture that makes them look like extras from “My Neighbor Totoro,” don't just feel bad for Miyazaki; feel bad for humanity. It's important to remember that, despite its large impact, we are in the infant stages of AI development. In a few short years, we’ve used it to replace animators, imitate our favorite musicians, and even write movie scripts. This trend of replacing humans with machines isn't aesthetically pleasing, it should make you fear a dystopia where human expression is considered too time-consuming to appreciate.
Max Moore (he/him) is a sophomore studying political science and journalism.
CORRECTION: This column has been updated to correct spelling errors.
