'Utterly Disgusted’: 2016 Video of Studio Ghibli Co-founder Miyazaki Shutting Down AI Researchers Resurfaces

Viral News: As the internet experiments with OpenAI’s latest native image generator, many users have pointed out that the AI-generated images resemble the iconic animation style of Studio Ghibli.

The Japanese animation studio, based in Tokyo, was founded by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki in 1985 and is widely known for its unique animation style.

Amid discussions about AI-generated images mimicking Ghibli’s signature look, an old video of Hayao Miyazaki rejecting AI-generated animation has resurfaced online.

The video shows Miyazaki shutting down AI researchers and calling the recreation of images through AI “an insult to life.” It has now gone viral. 

Sharing the clip, an X user wrote: “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.”

In the footage, Miyazaki makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with AI-generated animation, stating: “You can make horrible things if you want, but I want nothing to do with it.”

One of the AI researchers responds by explaining that the project is still in the research phase and is not intended for public display.

The footage is part of NHK’s documentary series “NHK Special: Hayao Miyazaki — The One Who Never Ends.”

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How Did the Internet React?

While some disagreed with Miyazaki’s stance, others expressed hope that traditional animation methods would continue to thrive.

“I love technology, but I also completely understand Hayao Miyazaki. I hope that in the future, there will still be people doing things the old way, without AI,” a user wrote.

Another pointed out: “Funny how what was an ‘insult to life’ is now a billion-dollar industry.”

A third user sided with the legendary filmmaker, saying: “I agree. I have huge respect for Miyazaki-san. His movies are something else—crazy to think all of it was drawn by hand.”

One individual highlighted the irony of the situation:

“Ironically, hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of people will likely watch Ghibli movies for the first time this weekend because of the viral AI discussion.”

Another user questioned how OpenAI was able to replicate Miyazaki’s style so accurately:

“What I’m wondering… How did OpenAI get so good at rendering Miyazaki’s style specifically? Is using his films alone sufficient, or did they go a step further and generate training data in his style?”

The video has attracted over 707.7K views and thousands of likes.