Who is Miyazaki Hayao? Studio Ghibli co-founder who calls AI images an ‘insult to life’ — All you need to know | Company Business News

With social media going frenzy over ChatGPT’s latest update of Ghibli-style images portraying animated, watercolour, and acrylic visuals, let’s take a look at Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, Miyazaki Hayao.

Who is Miyazaki Hayao?

Miyazaki Hayao is a Japanese anime director born on January 5, 1941. He is known for popular films such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Boy and the Heron. Miyazaki began his career as an animator in 1963 at the studio Toei Douga.

Apart from animation, he is known to draw manga. His notable works include Nausicaä, on which he worked from 1982 to 1984, along with other animated films, and Hikotei Jidai, which evolved into Porco Rosso, according to IMDb.

After the success of his film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki founded Studio Ghibli on June 15, 1985, along with Isao Takahata. Studio Ghibli was founded as a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten, with offices in Kichijōji designed by Miyazaki. It was reportedly named by Miyazaki after the nickname of the Caproni Ca.309 aircraft.

Hayao Miyazaki’s criticism of AI-generated animation

Previously, Miyazaki Hayao called AI-generated animation an “insult to life itself” in an interview.

“I can’t watch this stuff and find [it] interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” Hayao said.

Studio Ghibli has not officially commented on the use of its art style by ChatGPT.

About ChatGPT’s Studio Ghibli-style images

OpenAI rolled out ChaGPT’s new native image generation feature, which allows users to create Studio Ghibli-style images for the chatbot’s Plus, Pro, Team, and free users. However, in a post on X, Open AI CEO Sam Altman informed that the new feature will be delayed for free users. Altman also engaged with users by changing his profile picture to one of these images.