AI turned war photos into Ghibli scenes. Fans say Miyazaki would be horrified
A resurfaced quote from legendary Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki has sparked a wave of backlash against the latest viral ChatGPT trend: using AI to transform photos and memes into Ghibli-style art. As fans and critics flood social media with concerns, many point to Miyazaki’s longstanding rejection of AI-generated animation—calling it not just an insult to art, but "an insult to life itself."
The backlash reached the AI-hating community and is now spreading as far and wide as the memes themselves. Those opposed to the use of the technology are holding up the trend as an example of how they believe it degrades culture, insults art, and is even "treachery against the soul itself," as X user @casuaIcritique put it.
What did Hayao Miyazaki say about AI?
In the 2016 documentary Hayao Miyazaki—The One Who Never Ends, the Studio Ghibli director watches a demonstration of a 3D model animated with AI. Once the demo is over, Miyazaki speaks about a disabled friend who has difficulty even giving someone a high five.
While a lot of AI haters consider it an insult to art, the director takes it a step further.
“Thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find [it] interesting,” he says. “Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
I remember this clip of the Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki documentary when he says AI generated art is an “awful insult to life”.
— Jen Zhu (@jenzhuscott) March 26, 2025
But when was last time when @OpenAI showed they respected other people’s art or anybody’s life. pic.twitter.com/gwJTcEHxOZ
The demonstrators defended themselves by saying it was “just our experiment,” but looked a little like they wanted to cry. Who can blame them?
'Imagine being Miyazaki' right now
Miyazaki fans and AI opponents were irritated by the new ChatGPT trend, and those who fit into both camps were outright furious. It started on March 25, 2025, when they released the new GPT-4o model that allows people to convert photos and other images into studio art styles.
The backlash was swift.
"Imagine being Miyazaki, pouring decades of heart and soul into making this transcendent beautiful tender style of anime, and then seeing it get sloppified by linear algebra," wrote X user @nabeelqu.
"On the other site, Studio Ghibli-style AI output is going viral and allow me to just say it is profoundly depressing to see that stuff being used to promote OpenAI's latest product," said Bluesky user @bcmerchant.bsky.social. "Miyazaki famously called AI-produced art 'an insult to life itself'—and this in turn is an insult to him."
Meanwhile, AI app builder Trung Phan outlined just how much work Studio Ghibli puts into its animation.
"Since Studio Ghibli is trending, worth noting the mind-boggling effort Hayao Miyazaki and his team put into a film," he writes. "Each has 60k-70k frames, all hand-drawn and painted with watercolor."
"This 4-second clip ('The Wind Rises') took one animator 15 months to do."
Critics of the trend fear that this use of Miyazaki's art style, plus the fact that some users are reveling in the idea that he would hate it, point to a larger problem of active contempt for artists among tech-minded people.
"The entire AI Studio Ghibli thing is awful. But by far the worst part is the people actively celebrating that this would sadden/anger Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli's creator," writes @ednewtonrex. "Silicon Valley has never been in a worse place. It's sickening to watch the artist-hate spread."
OpenAI defends the ChatGPT Miyazaki art trend
ChatGPT's parent company OpenAI is no stranger to criticism over its tech. They've repeatedly defended themselves from accusations of art theft, copyright violations, and degrading artistic skills and basic writing capabilities on a global scale.
They haven't yet dealt with Miyazaki fans, but their defense of the new ChatGPT model is largely the same as ever. In an email to 404 Media, an OpenAI spokesperson said something something creative freedom.
"Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible,” they wrote. “We continue to prevent generations in the style of individual living artists, but we do permit broader studio styles—which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations. We’re always learning from real-world use and feedback and we’ll keep refining our policies as we go."
404 Media responded by pointing out that the new ChatGPT model can create Studio Ghibli versions of photos from famously horrific moments in history, according to their tests. They specifically noted the Saigon Execution and the "napalm girl" — two deeply disturbing images captured during the Vietnam War. Other popular examples include
These examples may be a nod to Miyazaki's active opposition to this war in the 1960s, if not the common anti-war themes in his films.
The Daily Dot has reached out to OpenAI and Studio Ghibli for comment via email.
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