Within days of OpenAI releasing its latest artificial intelligence innovation, GPT-4o, the internet found a new fascination—attempting to recreate the wonder of Studio Ghibli with AI-generated images. Social media platforms like X and Instagram soon became filled with AI-generated photos that tried to replicate the distinctive look of the legendary Japanese animation studio, giving new life to pop culture memes, movie scenes and even political news. While the trend demonstrates the impressive capabilities of OpenAI’s updated image generator, it also reopens a long-running debate: what happens when AI imitates—or infringes upon—human creativity?
OpenAI’s GPT-4o update, released last week, promised many practical improvements. According to OpenAI, the system can now follow more detailed prompts, render text more accurately in images and handle a wider array of visual styles. Users wasted no time putting these upgrades to the test. From “South Park” inspired shorts to claymation-style stills, the generator showcased an ability to replicate diverse aesthetics convincingly. Yet, it was the Studio Ghibli-style images that went viral.
Soon, there were pictures of reimagined classics: scenes from “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Sopranos” and even the infamous “distracted boyfriend” meme, all with a playful Ghibli-like twist. Others were of public personalities like Donald Trump and Elon Musk drawn as if inserted into “Spirited Away” or “My Neighbor Totoro.” Some praised the pictures for their loveliness and creativity, while others saw them as an immediate red flag.
To animation fans and artists, the sudden popularity of Ghibli-style art created through AI was a sensitive topic. Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki, famously called AI-generated characters an “insult to life itself” in a 2016 video that resurfaced amid the online frenzy. Miyazaki, whose meticulous, frame-by-frame approach defined Ghibli’s global legacy, appeared visibly disgusted at the idea of algorithmic art.
This skepticism isn’t without merit. AI image generators like OpenAI’s system rely on extensive training on data scraped and stolen from the internet, almost certainly including copyrighted images. The ethical and legal question isn’t just about style imitation; it’s about whether these tools, by replicating the hallmarks of studios like Ghibli, are profiting off the unpaid labor of human artists.
The outrage transcends social media frenzy. Just weeks ago, nearly 4,000 artists and supporters signed an open letter urging Christie’s auction house to cancel a planned sale devoted solely to AI-generated art. The concern is that AI-generated works, often trained on copyrighted content without permission, undermine human artists and devalue original craftsmanship.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed indifferent to the newest internet phenomenon. On X, he mocked the trend, saying that years of tinkering with AI to “cure cancer or whatever” paid off, only with Ghibli-like AI pictures getting mainstream attention. Though his remarks were in jest, they inadvertently touched on the developing tension: the most significant achievements of AI
might not necessarily be conquering the globe’s most critical issues but rather producing viral online hits, and disturbing the very authors it hopes to mimic.
ChatGPT’s AI-generation isn’t about to fall behind. Models like GPT-4o are getting faster, more responsive, and cheaper. But with each trend comes the problem: does technical advancement make the “borrowing” of other’s original content okay? With AI developers, companies, and artists all navigating this awkward intersection of creation and ownership, the problem remains unsolved.
