ChatGPT’s viral image generation feature has sparked a social media frenzy incomparable to any other in recent memory. For the last few days, millions of people across the world have been reimagining their daily lives in different art styles - some have turned their family pictures into Renaissance-style portraits, others have transformed pet photographs into cartoons. One style, however, has surpassed others in popularity - the whimsical, hand-drawn animation style of Studio Ghibli.
Over the last few days, social media has been filled with soft, whimsical artwork in the style of Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation studio behind films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.
However, some users are now noticing something disturbing in their Ghibli edits - the addition of people not visible in the original pictures.
Ghibli ghosts
After users gave photographs of their friends and family to ChatGPT or other AI tools like Grok to reimagine in Ghibli style, they noticed that the AI had added an extra person to the edited picture. This phenomenon was reported by several people, leaving many wondering about the possibility of ChatGPT detecting ghosts.
One Instagram user transformed a picture of her friends in Ghibli style. The original photo had only four women, but the Ghibli edit by Grok AI showed five women.
{{/usCountry}}One Instagram user transformed a picture of her friends in Ghibli style. The original photo had only four women, but the Ghibli edit by Grok AI showed five women.
{{/usCountry}}“So Ghibli is a ghost hunter,” wrote one person in the comments section. Another said he experienced something similar with Grok.
Makeup artist Barkha Dahra asked Grok to transform her photograph with her husband in a Ghibli-inspired pic. She was shocked when the final result had a third wheel. “Ghibli trend is fun until… it spotted a ghost,” she wrote.
Many other Instagram users shared their Ghibli fails. “Ghost detector,” an Instagram user captioned her post.
Travel vlogger Shishir Deshmukh said he asked ChatGPT to turn his picture into Ghibli artwork. The original image showed him leaning against a car with no other person in sight. However, the ChatGPT result had another man.
“I asked ChatGPT to create Ghibli art and I was shocked at the result. Did ChatGPT spot something which I did not?” Deshmukh asked, adding a ghost emoji.