Explained: What is the ‘Ghibli Art’ Trend?
The Studio Ghibli AI trend lets users create Ghibli-style images using AI, but fans and co-founder Hayao Miyazaki feel it disrespects traditional hand-drawn animation.
Years ago, when people had doubts or wanted to learn something new, they would ask elders or visit a library to read books. Then, with the rise of Google, searching for information became much easier. Now, with technology growing fast, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the world.
One of the most popular AI tools today is ChatGPT, launched in 2022 by OpenAI. It is a special AI chatbot that understands and creates text like human conversation. Recently, internet users became excited about a new feature in ChatGPT that lets them turn personal photos and memes into artwork inspired by Hayao Miyazaki, the famous co-founder of Studio Ghibli.
What is the Studio Ghibli AI Trend?
This AI image generator, powered by GPT-4o, allows users to create pictures in Ghibli’s animation style. People can use this feature by opening ChatGPT, clicking on the three dots in the prompt bar, and selecting Image and Canvas. Users can upload photos and give instructions to transform them into Ghibli-style art.
They can also choose details like aspect ratio, colors, and backgrounds to customize the final image. This trend has led to the creation of memes, edited movie scenes, and many cute AI-generated pictures.
For those who do not have access to ChatGPT’s paid version, Elon Musk’s Grok AI offers a free way to create similar images.
What is Studio Ghibli?
Studio Ghibli is a famous Japanese animation studio, founded on 15th June 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki. The name ‘Ghibli’ comes from a Libyan Arabic word, meaning a hot desert wind, and was also the name of an Italian aircraft.
The studio is known for making beautiful, creative, and emotional films such as:
- Princess Mononoke
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
- Spirited Away
- Grave of the Fireflies
How Did Hayao Miyazaki and Fans React?
Many Studio Ghibli fans are unhappy with this AI trend. They believe that copying an artist’s unique style with AI is not right and goes against the values of Studio Ghibli. Fans feel that this trend takes away the beauty of hand-drawn animation, which requires years of skill and dedication.
Hayao Miyazaki, 84, is known for disliking AI-generated images. Years before AI became popular, he saw an AI-created animation and strongly criticized it.
“I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, go ahead and do it. I would never wish to use this technology in my work,” Miyazaki said.
His silence when programmers spoke about machines drawing like humans showed his disappointment. Many believe that true art should be created by humans, not computers.
As AI continues to grow, the debate over technology vs. traditional art is becoming more important. Do you think AI-generated Ghibli-style art is exciting or does it disrespect the original work?
