LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Fans of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio behind 鈥淪pirited Away鈥� and other beloved movies, were delighted this week when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of .
But the trend also highlighted ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists. Miyazaki, 84, known for his hand-drawn approach and whimsical storytelling, has expressed skepticism about AI's role in animation.
Janu Lingeswaran wasn't thinking much about that when he uploaded a photo of his 3-year-old ragdoll cat, Mali, into ChatGPT's new image generator tool on Wednesday. He then asked ChatGPT to convert it to the Ghibli style, instantly making an anime image that looked like Mali but also one of the painstakingly drawn feline characters that populate Miyazaki movies such as 鈥淢y Neighbor Totoro鈥� or 鈥淜iki's Delivery Service.鈥�
鈥淚 really fell in love with the result,鈥� said Lingeswaran, an entrepreneur who lives near Aachen, Germany. 鈥淲e're thinking of printing it out and hanging it on the wall.鈥�
Similar results gave the Ghibli style to iconic images, such as the casual look of Turkish in a T-shirt and one hand in his pocket on his way to winning a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics. Or the famed 鈥淒isaster Girl鈥� meme of a 4-year-old turning to the camera with a slight smile as a house fire rages in the background.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which is over its flagship chatbot, has largely encouraged the 鈥淕hiblification鈥� experiments and its CEO Sam Altman changed his profile on social media platform X into a Ghibli-style portrait. In a technical paper posted Tuesday, the company had said the new tool would be taking a 鈥渃onservative approach鈥� in the way it mimics the aesthetics of individual artists.
鈥淲e added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist,鈥� it said. But the company added in a statement that it 鈥減ermits broader studio styles 鈥� which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations.鈥�
Studio Ghibli hasn't yet commented on the trend. The Japanese studio and its North American distributor didn鈥檛 immediately respond to emails seeking comment Thursday.
As users posted their Ghibli-style images on social media, Miyazaki鈥檚 previous comments on AI animation also began to resurface. When Miyazaki was shown an AI demo in 2016, he said he was 鈥渦tterly disgusted鈥� by the display, according to documentary footage of the interaction. The person demonstrating the animation, which showed a writhing body dragging itself by its head, explained that AI could 鈥減resent us grotesque movements that we humans can鈥檛 imagine.鈥� It could be used for zombie movements, the person said.
That prompted Miyazaki to tell a story.
鈥淓very morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability,鈥� Miyazaki said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can鈥檛 reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can鈥檛 watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is.鈥�
He said he would 鈥渘ever wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.鈥�
鈥淚 strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,鈥� he added.
Josh Weigensberg, a partner at the law firm Pryor Cashman, said that one question the Ghibli-style AI art raises is whether the AI model was trained on Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli鈥檚 work. That in turn 鈥渞aises the question of, 鈥榃ell, do they have a license or permission to do that training or not?鈥欌�� he said.
OpenAI didn鈥檛 respond to a question Thursday about whether it had a license.
Weigensberg added that if a work was licensed for training, it might make sense for a company to permit this type of use. But if this type of use is happening without consent and compensation, he said, it could be 鈥減roblematic.鈥�
Weigensberg said that there is a general principle 鈥渁t the 30,000-foot view鈥� that 鈥渟tyle鈥� is not copyrightable. But sometimes, he said, what people are actually thinking of when they say 鈥渟tyle鈥� could be "more specific, discernible, discrete elements of a work of art,鈥� he said.
鈥淎 鈥楬owl鈥檚 Moving Castle' or 鈥楽pirited Away,鈥� you could freeze a frame in any of those films and point to specific things, and then look at the output of generative AI and see identical elements or substantially similar elements in that output,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust stopping at, 鈥極h, well, style isn鈥檛 protectable under copyright law.鈥� That's not necessarily the end of the inquiry.鈥�
Artist Karla Ortiz, who grew up watching Miyazaki鈥檚 movies and is for copyright infringement in a case that鈥檚 still pending, called it 鈥渁nother clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the work of artists and the livelihoods of artists.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 using Ghibli鈥檚 branding, their name, their work, their reputation, to promote (OpenAI) products,鈥� Ortiz said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an insult. It鈥檚 exploitation.鈥�
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O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
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Matt O'brien And Sarah Parvini, The Associated Press
