One Piece anime director condemns AI Ghibli ‘artists’
As the debate around AI art continues, a director of the One Piece anime has shared their opinion – and it’s unsurprisingly not positive.
The utilization of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to emulate the distinct artistic style of the renowned Japanese animation production company Studio Ghibli has garnered significant global attention.
However, this practice has drawn criticism from Megumi Ishitani, a director involved in the production of the popular Japanese anime series “One Piece,” who expressed, “They’re tarnishing Ghibli.”
Ishitani is best known as the director of One Piece episode 1015, which adapted chapter 1000 of the original manga.
The episode is widely praised for its animation and visual storytelling, and is considered a masterpiece of modern anime, largely due to Ishitani’s direction.
In total Ishitani has directed 7 episodes of One Piece to date, including the particular memorable episodes 957 and 982, as well as directing the TV short ‘One Piece Fan Letter’.
On the 1st of April, Director Ishitani conveyed her disapproval of the recent AI developments via a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, “They’re tarnishing Ghibli… I won’t forgive them.”
Director Ishitani’s post included a video demonstrating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate animation, accompanied by commentary from Director Hayao Miyazaki regarding AI technology.
In a documentary program broadcast by NHK in 2016, Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, articulated strong reservations about the application of AI technology in animation creation, stating, “I feel it’s an insult to life.”
At that time, Director Miyazaki explicitly stated his intention to refrain from incorporating this technology into his creative endeavors.
On the second of the month, Director Ishitani further questioned, “Are there any Japanese people who use Ghibli AI!?” and articulated her dismay, stating, “I’m in despair… It’s an act that could lower the value of the Ghibli brand.”
She further expressed, “I hope they take legal action… I can’t stand to see Ghibli treated so cheaply.”
It seems that fans of AI were unhappy with Director Ishitani’s views, as she has faced harrassment from certain internet users, stating that “The people who support the Ghibli AI have been using my photos and making them look like Ghibli movies and sending me replies – this is really horrible.“
Henry Thurlow, another director involved in the “One Piece” anime series, also voiced his concerns in a post on X on the 28th of March, stating, “I’m not sure what exactly these folks making AI Ghibli images even think they’re accomplishing, beyond offending & upsetting the original artists (which you’d assume they’re fans of) I mean, you can’t (& will never) make profitable movies w/ this stuff. It’s akin to trolling.”
Director Thurlow emphasized, “Folks who say this is “democratizing” art are just fooling themselves, if not outright lying. You can’t “democratize” being a good artist or director the same way you can’t democratize becoming an Olympic athlete. It takes a lifetime of effort. That’s never gonna change.”
OpenAI released the “ChatGPT4o Image Generation” model on the 25th of March.
Since its release, users worldwide have been generating and sharing images in various popular anime styles, with the Ghibli style being particularly prevalent.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also publicly promoted this trend by sharing Ghibli-style renderings of his own photographs on X. As of yet, Studio Ghibli has not issued an official response to these developments.
Alongside the release of its technology, OpenAI announced adjustments to its regulatory policies. The revised policies permit ChatGPT to generate images of public figures, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Previously restricted forms of image processing, often due to concerns regarding racial stereotyping, such as depictions of “Asian eyes” and “fat people” have been enabled.
Similarly, restrictions on the generation of symbols associated with hate groups, such as the swastika, have been lifted.
Source: Hankyoreh via Yahoo News JP