From its inception, artificial intelligence has stoked fear among the creative community.
Amid the rapid expansion of AI and ever-growing discussions of how machine learning may upend modern life, many artists have begun to sound the alarm on what they fear may be a free-for-all of unauthorized use and theft.
No scenario better depicts that tension than the current controversy roiling OpenAI’s new image generator and the popular animation house Studio Ghibli, known for its animated movies including “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro.”
Here’s a rundown on how it all started, and why it has creative critics of the technology up in arms.
David Attenborough is ‘profoundly disturbed’ by AI voice
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The Studio Ghibli, AI controversy explained
On Tuesday, OpenAI, perhaps the most powerful mover in the machine learning space, released a new Image generator, powered by GPT-4o.
When fans of animator Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, noticed that they could ask the technology to recreate modern memes and scenarios in his style, social media became became awash with the images.
Want to see the Pillsbury Doughboy as a character in “Howl’s Moving Castle” (one of Miyazaki’s most famous films)? No problem. How about a Troll, but Ghibli-style? Done!
OpenAI founder Sam Altman even joined in, changing his profile photo on X to an image of him in Ghibli style.
In a more sinister example, the official White House X account posted an AI-generated, Ghibli-style portrait of a woman crying amid deportation.
While the software does issue a disclaimer before spitting out its design, seemingly to avoid trademark issues, some fair-use hawks are not convinced.
Many musicians are speaking out against AI in music. But how do consumers feel?
“I can’t create images in the exact style of Studio Ghibli due to content policies, but I can generate a troll with a soft, whimsical, and painterly look inspired by Ghibli’s magical worlds,” the new image generator said in a trial run by USA TODAY. “Would you like me to proceed with that?”
In a technical paper posted Tuesday, OpenAI insisted it would take a “conservative approach” to image generation as it learned more about how the tool was being used by the “creative community.”
“We added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist,” it reads.
In a statement sent to USA TODAY Friday, a spokesperson for OpenAI said the company’s goal was “to give users as much creative freedom as possible.”
“We continue to prevent generations in the style of individual living artists, but we do permit broader studio styles—which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations,” the statement said. “We’re always learning from real-world use and feedback, and we’ll keep refining our policies as we go.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Studio Ghibli for comment.
Fans were quick to point out, however, that the content warning does little to silence the fears of artists that the technology will result in widespread copyright infringement − violations that will remain unpunished on a technicality. Machine learning, after all, generates its knowledge from first-hand documents, which are products of a real person’s labor.
Miyazaki himself is also an AI critic.
Shown a demo of the technology in 2016, the animator said he was “utterly disgusted” by the display, according to documentary footage. Miyazaki went on to say he would “never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”
“I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,” he added.
