Studio Ghibli distributor pushes back at AI attempts to ‘replicate humanity’ as classic film returns to cinemas

Studio Ghibli’s U.S. distributor GKids has alluded to the controversial trend of AI-generated images imitating the distinctive style of the Japanese animation studio as they celebrated the return of 1997’s Princess Mononoke to cinemas.

This week, social media has been swamped with images in the style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki that were in fact created by a new version of ChatGPT.

The trend has delighted fans but also highlighted ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists.

At the same time, a new 4K restoration of the Studio Ghibli classic Princess Mononoke has been released to Imax screens. The animated feature has already made $1.2 million in previews ahead of its official opening today.

In a statement to Variety celebrating the release, GKids VP of distribution Chance Huskey said: “In a time when technology tries to replicate humanity, we are thrilled that audiences value a theatrical experience that respects and celebrates Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece in all its cinematic hand-drawn glory.”

In the past, Miyazaki has strongly condemned artificial intelligence technology.

In the 2016 documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, a group of developers showed the director and animator a crude AI-generated animation demo of a zombie that could be used for a video game.

The person demonstrating the animation, which showed a writhing body dragging itself by its head, explained that AI could “present us grotesque movements that we humans can’t imagine.”

That prompted Miyazaki to tell a story.

“Every morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability,” he said. “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting.”

Miyazaki added: “Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted… I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”

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The viral AI trend has been shared across various social media platforms, with the White House posting its version of the craze on Thursday. The post drew widespread criticism.

The White House used the tool to illustrate a picture of a woman from the Dominican Republic crying after being arrested by ICE.

The image has been viewed more than 45 million times on X/Twitter, with many users calling the post “evil” and “ghastly.”