ChatGPT’s “Ghibli Art Style”: A Trend or "An Insult to Life Itself" ?

As of the early bouts of 2025, Open AI had introduces a feature in their ChatGPT-4o that provided users the ability to generate images in the ever recognizable "Studio Ghibli" style, the renowned Japanese animation studio responsible for making classic animated favorites like "Princess Mononoke" and "Grave of the Fireflies." Quickly gaining popularity since its release, users have been using it to transform personal photos, historical events and even things as silly as memes into the popular art style. 

While a good portion of the internet has celebrated the image generator for its practicality and charm. A significant amount of ethical debate has raised, questioning whether this advancement in artificial intelligence is nothing more than a beloved legacy being undermined by corporate greed. 

While the AI model itself does not directly copy specific images that would inherently effect the studio's copyright laws, they are trained using a wide range of datasets that include copyrighted material as a ways to be able to generate said art style. Due to existing laws not adequately addressing the matter, it opens up a "gray area" of legalities, constituting a possible violation of copyright law- generating art in the style of existing artists. 

Hayao Miyazaki, well- renowned to be Studio Ghibli's co-founder and animator has already voiced his disapproval for the use of AI, claiming that it is "an insult to life itself." Standing proud by fans and enthusiast alike for the care and emotional thought used in each and every frame of the animations, it raises concerns whether this will potentially devalue human creativity and the expansions of artists nation-wide. With the tools becoming more accessible, there debates of businesses and users opting for AI-generated images over the creation of original human-made artists for its ease in usage, time efficiency and cost saving. 

There is also the discussion on etiquettes revolving on how these images are used, concerns on cultural sensitivity being a main placeholder for these debates. With AI image generation, there is no consideration of emotional human effect, moral and context often left irrelevant. Used in commercial campaigns or even promoted acts of hate being shared wildly online leads to mis-contextualization and ethical concerns of the origin for the art style.

To conclude, while the allure is undeniable, approaching creation for AI-generated images should involve a critical understanding of all the ethical concerns included. 

NOORUL AMIRAH BINTI SHAHRUL HISHAM

1221304678