Once again, AI has intruded on the great works of the artists it shamelessly steals from. Regardless of AI’s usefulness in important fields like medicine, cybersecurity, etc., taking someone’s art and mass producing it is insulting.

It would be one thing if AI was merely a prompt generator to inspire artists and it sourced images ethically, but it doesn’t. It scours the internet and hijacks art from unsuspecting artists. It’s integral to mention AI is not to blame for this situation, the users and creators are at fault.

These so-called “artists” and “inventors” merely steal from others and claim it as their own. This is unethical and sometimes illegal, yet very little is done about it. AI has been devastating on artists and writers especially, and was the main reason behind the SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023. Yet despite the success of these strikes, not much has changed. AI continues to plague the industry.

If you want to get a sense of how bad it’s gotten, look up anything on Google and check images. You’d be hard pressed to find an image that isn’t either 20 year old vector art or AI slop. The worst part is it’s getting harder to tell the difference. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always an uncanniness to AI “art”. It feels dead, like it was made by someone who never existed.

Yet at first glance, there’s a chance you’ll be tricked into thinking it’s not AI. Then when you add in the people who touch up AI generated images, it only further muddles things. It’s hard not to feel helpless, especially when even art styles as unique as Studio Ghibli’s are horribly replicated by a machine.

Just a few days ago, ChatGPT/OpenAI added a Studio Ghibli styled generator to their AI platform. To claim that it’s creating Studio Ghibli art is inaccurate. OpenAI is merely imitating the artstyle much like a child tracing over another picture.

Unlike the child, the AI has no drive and can’t even mimic properly. AI supporters have always been very outspoken about their support of the technology, but they’re always so touchy whenever you criticize their usage of it in any capacity.

To make matters worse, so-called “AI artists” try to claim copyright for work they didn’t actually make, and get mad when others use their already stolen work without permission. It’s like a thief suing another thief for stealing their ill gotten gains.

AI can’t replace creativity, no matter how many advancements it makes. This will not change, and this Studio Ghibli rip-off machine has only further proven that. In the end, a human being will always be involved in the process somehow. AI can’t do it all alone, because it doesn’t understand why people make art in the first place.

Art isn’t just about looking nice. There are scores of motives and messages behind it, and the people who use AI as a clutch will never understand that. Relying on AI for something that relays a person’s thoughts, feelings, and hopes is fundamentally impossible.

An AI has no heart or soul (it literally has no organs or philosophical concept of self), so why would we trust it with a medium that is all about understanding those core human concepts?

Studio Ghibli (and many other studios) have devoted an untold amount of time and effort in their work. All-nighters, working on the go, work trips dedicated to writing in peace without distractions, these studios have done it all in pursuit of wowing their audience with their work. 

To try and mimic those results whilst sidestepping the hard work it took to get there in the first place, is just delusional. “I fear the world’s end is near. Humans have lost confidence in themselves,” said Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli.

While the response may seem extreme, it’s vital to remember that this man has been drawing for decades. He’s dedicated his life to his craft, and to make a machine that copies his hard work without effort is disgusting.

The world has to ask itself, what does it want to be? Does humanity want to live in a world where it does literally nothing? No artists, no writers, no technicians, no jobs by humans of any sort? Is a world of no work and all lazing around really an ideal? Is that the future? It shouldn’t be, a future like that sounds boring, and dreadful.