A legendary movie director’s ‘disgusted’ thoughts on AI have resurfaced after the recent Studio Ghibli-inspired AI trend in recent days.
Across social media, users have been generating images of real-life events but depicted in the iconic style of the famous Japanese animation company.
The images have, by and large, been created by AI bots, with ethical and moral debates raging once more on websites like X and TikTok over the use of AI.
Inspired by the arguments made on both sides, the thoughts of legendary animator and director Hayao Miyazaki have resurfaced, with the 84-year-old having spoken out against using AI in the past.
Over a career that has spanned several decades, Miyazaki has been responsible for some of the best-loved animated films to come from Japan.
Films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle are beloved across the world, noted for their beautiful hand-drawn art style and imaginative storytelling.
Back in 2016 – during filming for a documentary on his life and work – Miyazaki, 84, was shown an AI-generated video of a zombie dragging itself forward by its head.
In response, Miyazaki told the documentary-makers a story, beginning: ‘Every morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability.’
He continued: ‘It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch [AI-generated content] and find it interesting.
‘Whoever creates [these videos] has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted and I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.’
The trend has made its way across social media in recent days, especially on X, with the official account for the White House using the filter – developed by OpenAI – even joining in.
Users on X have been using the filter to depict events from the sporting world, to recreate memes in the famous style of Studio Ghibli, and to redesign personal pictures from their own lives.
The filter has since been restricted, with a statement saying: ‘OpenAI has restrictions on generating images in the style of specific artists, including Studio Ghibli. This is due to copyright and intellectual property concerns.’
Studio Ghibli is based in the Japanese capital of Tokyo and was founded in 1985 by filmmakers Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma.
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The first film released under the name of Studio Ghibli was 1986 movie Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which was largely inspired by Miyazaki’s trip to Wales during the mid-80s miners’ strikes.
Studio Ghibli’s next film, My Neighbor Totoro, became internationally famous and has since been adapted into a stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The animation house became internationally renowned through the 1990s and Miyazaki’s 2001 film Spirited Away became just the second film to win the Academy Award for best animated feature.
Until 2023, Spirited Away was the only non-English language film to win the award, when Miyazaki’s most recent film The Boy and the Heron took the award.
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