ChatGPT’s Studio Ghibli AI Art Trend Is an Insult to Life Itself

In the past, OpenAI has explicitly refrained from allowing users to create prompts and generate images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s art style to avoid potential copyright lawsuits from the anime giant. That is, until the company released a new ChatGPT update earlier this week touting its technological ability to create more “precise, accurate, photorealistic outputs.” The update has led to an online trend where folks are posting AI-generated images using OpenAI to transform themselves into characters from Ghibli films, like Spirited Away, Princess Mononokeand My Neighbor Totoro.

Building on that, ChatGPT’s new update has meant verified accounts on X/Twitter have been smarmily patting OpenAI on the back for how its new update is democratizing animation by shitting out prompts transforming photos of their weddings and whatnot into something that Ghibli could have created. What’s worse, OpenAI appears to be leaning into the farcical fad despite its previous reservations. On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared to have cosigned the trend by changing his profile picture to a ChatGPT AI-generated image of himself as a Ghibli character.

In a post on his official X/Twitter accountAltman wrote “> be me / > grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever / > mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything / > wake up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘look i made you into a twink ghibli style haha.’”

This also happened Wednesday:

https://t.co/PVdINmsHXs pic.twitter.com/Bw5YUCI2xL

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 27, 2025

The underlying issue in this entire situation is how AI initiatives like the one mentioned above reflect breathless tech bro sentiments about AI “democratizing art” by enabling anyone to input a prompt and receive an image in a distinctive art style. Art styles professional animators put years of work into mastering. It is also the latest (and arguably the most brazen) example of copyright infringement that AI is posing against the professional artists and voice actors who are battling for protections from shit like this.

The whole affair is made exceedingly worse when you consider the official White House X/Twitter account jumping on the trend, posting Ghibli-fied images to dehumanize people in President Donald Trump’s massive deportation campaign.

co-founder of studio ghibli, hayao miyazaki’s reaction to AI generated art btw https://t.co/w9xHfyLVrG pic.twitter.com/EtPkmsgtZt

— kp (@earthlykisssed) March 26, 2025

While Studio Ghibli has yet to issue an official comment or announce legal action against OpenAI’s new update being used to generate images in its art style, famed animator Hayao Miyazaki has already made his feelings explicitly clear about AI: he despises it. In NHK’s 2016 documentary, Never-Ending Mana production intern showed Miyazaki a demonstration (using “deep learning” AI) of a dismembered zombie using its head to wriggle across the floor. After a pregnant pause, Miyazaki provided feedback on the video in the form of an anecdote, leading to the meme of him calling it, “An insult to life itself.”

“Let me just say every morning I used to see a friend who’s disabled. He would walk up to me. One leg’s turned outward, so it’s hard for him to walk. Even a high-five is hard for him. His stiff hand and mine touch. I think of him, and can’t say I like this,” Miyazaki said. “Whoever made it gives no thought to pain. It’s very unpleasant. You can make horrible things if you want, but I want nothing to do with it.”

Since Studio Ghibli is trending, worth noting the mind-boggling effort Hayao Miyazaki and his team put into a film.

Each has 60k-70k frames, all hand-drawn and painted with water color.

This 4-second clip (“The Wind Rises”) took one animator 15 months to do.

In the documentary… pic.twitter.com/BwvipsyVCl

– Trung Phan (@trungtphan) March 26, 2025

Miyazaki wanting nothing to do with AI is pretty understandable considering the labor he and his animators put into making scenes in their feature films as awe inspiring as they are. There’s no greater example of this Herculean effort than a clip from NHK’s 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki documentary, which made the rounds online shortly following the Ghibli AI animation trend.

The video, which shows a four-second clip of a busy crowd in Wind Risestook animator Eiji Yamamori 15 months to complete. When Yamamori downplayed Miyazaki telling him good job, saying “It’s so short though,” Miyazaki responded in kind saying, “But it was worth it.” Should Ghibli and Miyazaki wish to pursue legal action against OpenAI and ChatGPT, we’ll bring the popcorn.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Warsand Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TVand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.