Discovering Art Through AI: The Ghibli Trend
Author name:- Anjali Jha
“I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."
— Joanna Maciejewska
Ghibli Trend refers to the recent internet phenomenon of transforming pictures and memes into images created by AI, particularly ChatGPT, into looking like the distinctive art style of Ghibli Studios. Ghibli Studios is a Japanese animation film studio famous for its beautiful, mostly hand-drawn animation and deep emotional storytelling. Their movies feature detailed and painted backgrounds with young, gentle characters. The trend began with Grant Slatton sharing an image of his family in Ghibli art style. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI changed his X profile page to a Ghibli version, accelerating its popularity. Soon people all over the globe were participating in the trend, converting their pictures and famous memes to Ghibli images. The soft and light art style of Ghibli added a magical touch to the images. The art trend enabled people who are not particularly artistic, to create beautiful and personalized images.
Ghibli images are a part of the modern artform that uses the help of AI in creating art. With time new art styles emerge and new tools are used to enhance them. Artificial Intelligence is one such tool. Accessibility of art increases and people who do not have an affinity towards art can now create beautiful pieces. Art specialized AIs help artists brainstorm new ideas and experiment with their creations with minimal risks. It is cost effective to train with AI and also to draw using cheaper tools provided by AI. Old artforms can be revived and reimagined in modern settings. Since AIs are trained on thousands of art pieces by different artists, it provides experienced inputs and acts as a creative partner. Sketching becomes effortless and tedious aspects of painting can be completed using AI. In the Ghibli trend, ChatGPT used open-source images based on prompts. It mimicked the style, colour palette, and lighting used in the animations to match them with the users’ demands. This trend is a visual example of how AI can act as an artist and cater personalised images to people who don’t have time or the talent for making them.
However, the implementation of this technology is accompanied by certain limitations and potential challenges that must be carefully considered. Art based AIs are often trained using artists’ works that they have not consented to and are not even aware of. An artists’ unique art style is stolen from them and not given royalties or even credit for. Many artists are now protesting against AI plagiarism through lawsuits and social media awareness. They are demanding AI regulation in creative spaces. One such famous artist is Karla Ortiz who filed a lawsuit against AI models who were trained on art without her knowledge. She and her peers argued that the unauthorized use of their art threatens their livelihoods and undermines the value of human creativity. Moreover, creators and illustrators have expressed their fear that AI taking up so much space in the art world, the quality of art has declined. The ingenuity and originality that comes with each artist's unique perspective gets washed away with AI’s repetitiveness and plagiarism.
In the case of the Ghibli trend too, the art style was used against its creators’ wishes. Hayao Miyazaki is the creative head behind Ghibli Studios. He is the main artist and illustrator of Ghibli movies. Fond of old hand-drawn animation slides, he paints nostalgic and magical moments of life using only paint and paper. His characters are drawn with simple lines of wide-eyed expressions, painted in beautiful settings of flying animals. Miyazaki has always believed in the journey of art. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the artists who has expressed his disdain for AI in artwork multiple times. Regarding his art style being used by ChatGPT to create images, Hayao Miyazaki expressed his disdain for it. The emotional road borne with hidden meanings and dual perspectives that can only be created by humans can never be replicated by AI. He has expressed concerns that reliance on AI reflects a loss of faith in human capabilities and reduces appreciation for it. He has on multiple occasions called imitation of humans by AI as “grotesque.” When shown an AI-generated animation project at a tech demo, he said, "I strongly feel this is an insult to life itself.” He has always expressed that while AI can imitate the technique, it can carry the soul of art. For him, AI contributes to commodification of art and he wishes to never work with it. Even though his approach is slow and meticulous, it is driven by love and attention rather than data and prompts. Many other artists see AI generated Ghibli images as a direct challenge to the years of effort and love put into hand-drawn animation. They believe that it is a huge disrespect to the artist to use his art style to create AI images which he so critically disapproves of.
In addition to this, each image that is created by ChatGPT causes a huge amount of energy and heat to be generated. Open AI uses GPUs or Graphics Processing Unit that generate these images on command. When millions of people generated images simultaneously, GPUs worked overtime causing it to have a meltdown. Due to the systems heating up, gallons of water is used to cool it down. The massive energy demands of AI image generation, powered by GPUs, result in significant electricity consumption and carbon emissions. As usage skyrockets, so does the environmental toll, sparking urgent concerns about the sustainability of this technology.
While the art trend has added a sentimental and magical touch to pictures, it is necessary to consider the artist’s opinion. The ethical boundaries of art and the artist should be taken as a priority. The environmental implications should also be considered and the use of AI for image generation should be minimized. As we embrace the convenience and creativity of AI, it is imperative that we ensure that the rights, contribution and emotional labour of artists are neither overlooked nor exploited. The future of art should balance technological advancement with deep respect for artistic integrity, environmental sustainability and human creativity.