Think Before You Jump on the Viral Ghibli AI Bandwagon

It's not always about the law but respect for creative work.

- Usha Chandradas

In the opening scene of Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea, a little goldfish-like creature with a human face swims through a lush, otherworldly ocean – all bubbles, jellyfish and glimmering light.

It was the first Studio Ghibli film I had ever watched, and I was enchanted.

The characters were drawn with elegance and beauty, and a unique style of animation that's instantly recognisable.

So when my feed was suddenly filled last week with images of friends and contacts reimagined in "Studio Ghibli" style, rendered through one of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platform OpenAI's latest tools, I paused.

Some of the results were beautiful, almost startling. Others felt a little bizarre. But I was struck by how quickly the internet split into two camps: those who were thrilled to have a bit of Ghibli-like wonder infused into their own portraits, and those who took it as a sign that the end of humanity was upon us.

Soon after, a 2016 clip of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki resurfaced, where the artist was shown a piece of AI-generated animation.

He watched it, stony-faced, then quietly said he found it to be "an insult to life itself".

I understood what he meant.

He wasn't reacting to the technology per se, but the absence of intention and care in its use.

When we use GenAI platforms unthinkingly in the context of the arts, we shift focus to the result, rather than the process of creation. And something vital gets lost.

THE VALUE OF CREATIVE LABOUR

When a painter chooses where to place a brushstroke or a writer reworks a sentence until it finally lands, what matters isn't just the final product. It's the thought, emotion and effort that goes into creating it.

Every artistic work carries the traces of its making, and that's where much of its meaning lies.