Ghibli-style AI images cause ethical problems

Over the past week, social media platforms have been flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli’s work. This phenomenon follows the implementation of the new image generation function in chatgpt, Announce March 25, Openai. While millions of Instagram and X users are involved in this seemingly harmless trend, it has also sparked a heated debate on copyright infringement and the questionable ethics of AI’s “art.”

What happened: The rise of Ghibli-style images

The new ChatGpt feature, called “4O Image Generation”, allows users to create AI-driven images from text prompts or upload images. Within hours of the release, social media users began changing their profile picture to a Ghibli-style version led by X. Openai CEO Sam Altman.

Ghibli’s styling ranges from iconic photos such as “VJ Day on Times Square” and “Afghan Girl” to memes and everyday scenes, and many users marvel at the model’s ability to replicate the unique soothing texture and emotional outline of the beloved animated house. At the same time, this trend triggered an immediate rebound due to its legal influence.

Legal significance: Copyright attention

According to intellectual property attorney Evan Brown, the art style cannot be protected by copyright law. However, Openai may have trained Ghibli’s generation using millions of frames in Ghibli’s movies, complicating the legitimacy of the model. “I think this is [legal gray area] Asked the same question we’ve asked ourselves for years,” Brown told TechCrunch.

Over some time, there have been many cases of the legal implications of individuals and companies for the use of copyrighted materials to train AI models. Earlier this March, the AI ​​image capability of the Gemini Flash model was released by Google, which allowed users to easily remove watermarks from images. In December 2023, the New York Times sued Openai and Microsoft for using their published works to train AI models without permission.

Ghibli-style image of detained immigrants posted by White House X account

Moral issues

As legal concerns remain, so are morally so. Specifically, the discourse around Ghibli-style artificial intelligence produces images, not just the obvious immorality of choosing the artist’s work with corporate purpose.

March 27 (only two days after the 4o image generation) Official White House Account X Posted Ghibli-style images, mocking the handcuffed crying detainee, calling the character “Virginia Basora-Gonzalez, a previously deported alien criminal who was convicted of fentanyl trafficking.”

In response to subsequent online anger, White House Deputy Director of Communications Comment“It’s disappointing that people are more frustrated with this meme than the fentanyl crisis… The arrest will continue. The meme will continue.”

Still from “The Rise of the Wind” (2013)

Hayao Miyazaki is AI art

Although the negative impact of AI “art” on the creative profession has been widely discussed over the years, as studios Ghibli and Miyazaki’s studios represent historically: a commitment to traditional manual animation and often criticize the industrialization of the cave, the Gibley-style image generator has caused special chords with fans around the world. These themes are well proven in movies such as Princess Monoke and How Called Castle.

Earlier this month @filmthusiast On Instagram, it is emphasized that Miyazaki insists on using every frame of each frame of each clip of “Fengsheng” in the virus column. It took animator Eiji Yamanori 15 months to form the 96-picture scene, which depicts a bustling crowd walking from all directions in the aerial view.

Miyazaki has not publicly commented on Ghibli-style image generators, but Clip His firm stance on artificial animation is portrayed from the 2016 NHK special documentary “Miyazaki Hayao: The Never End”. In the editing, Hayao Miyazaki talks about the art of contempt. “I don’t want to associate this with our work at all… it feels like a huge insult to life itself.” “It feels like the end of the world. We humans are losing confidence in ourselves.”

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