AI can Never Replace Ghibli

Chat GPT has added an image generator and to promote it they rolled out a Ghibli image maker that can turn your photos into Ghiblized cartoons. And while I've seen a lot of images that look like Ghibli I haven't seen anything that feels like Ghibli.

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[petergriffinson]

It’s crazy how many non-artist doesn’t give af about artists and the work they put into this shows and movies.

[ClosetKitsune]

I saw a comment on BlueSky that put this whole thing almost perfectly: it's all very much like Syndrome from The Incredibles. Syndrome thought that the point of being a superhero was having incredible powers and getting recognition and glory for his acts. In trying to obtain these things, he ended up being the villain. In truth, being a superhero wasn't about powers or recognition; it was about helping people (something we see Bob continuing to do early in the movie WITHOUT using superpowers, when he's stuck at his insurance job).

Art isn't about instant gratification, or fame, or recognition, or making people's jaws drop at how good or well-rendered or impressive your art is. Sure, validation feels nice, but the whole point of ANY creative pursuit is self-expression. Honestly, I feel like people lost the plot about it ages ago (especially corporations and stuff), and GenAI is only making that ever more obvious, while also hurting genuine artists.

If you're an artist who's disheartened by AI: please don't give up. Your self-expression will always be important, no matter your skill level or amount of experience. Never give up!

[anmolbasson]

I don't care how good AI can copy other artists works, I will still support for art that was made by a person. And also keep making art because I enjoy it.

[chrri]

"i believe the tool of an animator is the pencil"
- miyazaki from nyt interview (2021)

[williamgregory]

As shitty a trend as the Studio Ghibli AI slop have been, it's nice to see how protective the true fans are of Miyazaki's iconic animation.

[ljubowie]

The Ghibli AI stuff feels like an insult. I can say it both as an artist myself and as a Ghibli fan, I do not want to see it as a consumer of art too.
Miyazaki was so vocal about his views on AI and they have the audacity to do this to his legacy...
Yet I get it that most people do not see it as something sinister, they are not thinking much about it. I hope more folks will see your video.

[jasonjames]

Please, still drop your video. Human created content is so refreshing and inspiring to other humans 😊.

[crystanubis]

It reminds me of what Roger Ebert said about Battlefield Earth (mild paraphrasing), "The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he doesn't understand why."
To me, that's AI.

[benjaminfenty]

Miyazaki's full quote: "Every morning, not in recent days, I see a friend who has a disability. 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. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is or 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."

[admiralcat]

What's so baffling is people are suddenly actively disrespecting Miyazaki for being "against technology" and "AI is a threat to his business" and villainizing him for that.

[lucasn_art]

Honestly, I know AI will never replace humans, but it's insanely scary to me to think that one day I might not know whether a youtube video is made by a human or not...

[buniberuang]

From cave paintings and hieroglyphs to comic books, we humans love to tell stories since the beginning of our history. No matter how advanced we will be, that thing will never change. Think about it. Abandonment hurts, and loneliness feels bad, right? Because in the past, abandonment meant a lower chance of surviving. We have evolved so far to get to this point, and yet abandonment still feels painful. It's like something that inherently belongs to us as humans. And so does storytelling. So, keep drawing, express yourself, and tell your story. It's one of the most meaningful ways to connect us as humans. ♡

[jjstarrprod]

Brad, as an animator (who's now a stopmotion teacher in an international elementary school in Taiwan), I've been following you for years now, one of your silent fans, always loved not just how you presented your tablets reviews, but also simply because you seem to be a genuine great guy, with a very fun personality.

I spent my whole saturday (my first holiday for month, now) discovering that my whole Threads, which is one of the few remaining social media I actually usually enjoy, was completely saturated with AI Ghibli posts of what seems to be EVERYBODY !
Horrified, I looked into it a little bit and discovered it was (yet again) our good old pal Sam Altman and his Open AI cronies who pulled yet again a stunt to make the world talk about them... And give me yet another reminder to one day meet them... to serial headbutt them all to a pulp ! Seriously, everything these guys have been doing for the past 2 years have only accelerated the ultimate demise of humanity as a whole.
So I spent my entire saturday afternoon, the first one I could take a rest for months, furiously answering to any and every people on Threads who were cheerfully going all "look at my cute little AI Ghibli avatar" all the 1001 reasons why it was wrong and they should really stop doing it before permantenly damaging their social media brand.

So when I got burntout to explain for the 23rd time all the reasons why this is so wrong, I came on youtube and typed that topic on my searchbar to take a finger on the pulse, how youtube feels about it, and I'm so glad to see not only that your vid on this topic is the very first one that popped out, but also that your take on it aligns so much with mine own.

People think of this as a cute little AI app, when all of us creative and artists (and it speaks particularly to me, as watching Princess Mononoke in theaters 25 years ago was the day I decided "this is what I want to do with my life") know instinctively that this is it ! This is the final boss capitalism, who's been exploiting artists for centuries now, thi sis the final boss it's throwing at us. This is the final fight !
If Ai tech bros make the entire planet normalizing stealing artists's hard earned lessons and styles over decades of hard work, and just turn them into a free automatic avatar generator for funsies, and do it with THE MOST ICONIC ANIMATION STUDIO IN THE WORLD, that's gonna be the final nail in the coffin of art as a whole, as nobody will ever think about commissioning any artist ever again, and artists will die out in droves (who the heck would ask artists to learn souldering ? Or plumbing ? Or baking ? or, god forbids, software engineering ?)

And humanity will soon follow art in the grave, as a civilization without art is a civilization without imagination, without critical thinking, therefore a civilization without future, therefore a dead civilization.

[ZCScience]

This is why I can't understand how people call themselves "ai artists"

[neio_art]

The key is infringement. AI commercial companies infringe on the rights of a large number of artists without permission and destroy the creative environment of human artists. It is not a problem of replacement. If the problem of infringement cannot be solved, all discussions about AI will be meaningless.

[emberberryart]

As an animator, this entire thing really hurt. I've been an animation fan ever since I was a kid. I grew up with Disney classics, Don Bluth, Ghibli, and more. It's why I became an animator. It's why I study it. It's why I share my work here on YT. It's because it feels like what those artists did was real magic. Look at Alan Becker, that man makes stick figure animations so powerful, fun, relatable, etc that it causes people, real human people, to cry bc of how powerful his stories are. That is magic. That is beautiful and it is what the world needs MORE of, not less!

Aaron Blaise (Disney vet animator here on YT as well) has made an entire short film: Snow Bear. What is it about? Loneliness. That deep need for connection and to have a friend. AI can never understand that.

Every time this crap happens, I feel like I got punched in the gut, but life is not about whether or not you can take a hit, it's about how many you can get hit and keep moving forward - To paraphrase Rocky.

I will not stop and neither should any other *real* artist out there. There are real people who care. Real people who want to see what you make in this world.

[kimyoonmisurnamefirst]

The translation on Miyazaki's Japanese is accurate. BTW, remember that Japanese play down their disgust, so this is the equivalent of the US version of this is utter crap.

[rakyuugaki]

Studio Ghibli has a lot of genius artists with different styles, they're united by Miyazaki not because they copy Miyazaki, they can draw as good as Miyazaki and still have their own voices. These are just some examples of different artists from Ghibli who made name for themselves:
- the late Yoshifumi Kondo (RIP)
- Tatsuya Kondo (Ocean Waves)
- Masashi Ando (Spirited Away, Paprika, Your Name, A Letter to Momo, The Deer King)
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arietty, When Marnie Was There, Mary and the Witch's Flower)
- Kenichi Konishi (Tokyo Godfathers, Full Metal Alchemist The Star of Milos, The Children of the Sea)
- Kitaro Kosaka (Nasu Summer of Andalusia, Okko's Inn)
- Kenichi Yoshida (Eureka Seven, Gundam G no Reconguista, Orbital Children)
- Takeshi Honda (Evangelion, Milennium Actress, The Boy and the Heron)

Lumping them all together into "Miyazaki style" is a common misconception among general audience and tech bros trying to bank on it (or should I say, grifting) by using the loopholes created by Japanese lawmakers whom are so decades behind in technology awareness (they are also so unwilling to protect or support their artists). It's the worst combination of consummerism and capitalism.

First we must educate general audience that Ghibli has many amazing artists who are dedicating their time and energy into art, even now (Ghibli just announced they are recruiting background artists for their new short animation project). Miyazaki is already working on something new, even going as far hiring Takeshi Honda and the best animator in Japan (if not in the world), Toshiyuki Inoue as full time employees. Give the artists behind Ghibli some love and recognition, and people will notice that human artists are way, waaay better at animating, drawing, and painting than AI ever could. ❤

[jamesbullo]

You should post it as a "How-to Ghibli without AI"

[coentertainer]

I see a future where things like illustration have become like pottery.

Right now if you go over to someone's house and they have a factory made bowl, you probably look at it and think nothing of it. It serves a purpose, and was cheap. Then, from time to time, you find yourself in possession of a handmade bowl designed, moulded, and finished in the traditional methods, and you find it beautiful and novel and sacred (maybe it's in a restaurant trying to separate itself from the crowd, or a coveted item you saved up for).

When major industries (advertising, mainstream publishing etc.) move over to AI art, we're going to see it absolutely everywhere (like we currently see industrially made clothes or food), and we're going to see handmade illustration much more rarely (or at least your average person will) because businesses won't be platforming it. That will make going to those places where traditional art (a status handmade digital art can now graduate to) is made and showcased feel all the more special.