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‘Awful insult to life’: 2016 video of Studio Ghibli co-founder shutting down AI researchers surfaces
In the throwback video, Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki shares his opinions on AI-created animation. The clip is part of a documentary on him.
The internet has turned into a Ghibli-inspired playground with people using OpenAI’s latest native image generator to create everything from memes to portraits. What has intrigued them is how GPT-4o’s generator allows users to create stunning visuals reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s iconic animation style. The legendary Japanese animation studio was founded by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki in 1985 and produced some classic anime. Amid people going crazy over generating visuals with ChatGPT that feel straight out of a Ghibli film, a throwback video of one of the co-founders shutting down AI researchers has resurfaced.
“Founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, called it ‘an awful insult to life’ when a group of three AI researchers showed him a demo in 2016 of an AI tool (OpenAI's RL Gym) to create: ‘A machine that draws pictures like people do’. Wherever those researchers are now, well, your time has arrived,” an X user wrote while sharing the old video.
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In the video, Miyazaki tells the researchers, “You can make horrible things if you want, but I want nothing to do with it.” In response, one of the AI researchers, visibly upset, says that it is just in the research phase and they are not going to show it to the public.
The clip is a part of NHK’s documentary series “NHK Special: Hayao Miyazaki — The One Who Never Ends.”
Take a look at the video:
What did social media say?
While some criticised Miyazaki’s old remarks, others shared his scepticism. An individual posted, “I love technology, but I also completely understand Hayao Miyazaki, and I hope that in the future, there will still be people doing things the old way, without AI.”
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Another added, “Ironically, hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of people will likely watch Ghibli movies for the first time this weekend because of the viral Ghibli thing.” A third commented, “I've seen this clip going around, but it leaves out the context from the demo itself, and the actual reason Miyazaki dislikes it, which is the grotesque/creepy movements (not AI itself) and how, thinking of his disabled friend, he can't find that interesting.” A fourth wrote, “This silence is LOUD.”
