For the past few weeks, the internet has been lit up with discourse over AI art. This subject has always been controversial, but this recent controversy is a bit different. For context, many AI companies offer AI image generation. If a user is trying to generate a realistic image, this usually involves training the AI with real images. The same principle applies if a user wants to create AI art. However, many claim that when AI is trained in art, it’s stealing and profiting from the hard work of human artists. This conundrum lies at the heart of all AI art discourse.
The latest edition of the AI software ChatGPT includes a way to generate images based off movies by Studio Ghibli, the famous Japanese animation studio behind films such as Spirited Away, “My Neighbor Totoro and “Howl’s Moving Castle.” Many people across the internet used the software to generate seemingly harmless images: pets, children, weddings- there were, of course, controversial images generated, but that’s not unique to this software. If anything, it can be said that this Studio Ghibli art trend was a very positive one for its participants. But what about those who chose not to participate?
This is where the discourse comes in. Many people are opposed to this trend, claiming it’s disrespectful to Studio Ghibli’s artists. One Reddit user wrote, “These AI-generated ‘Ghibli-style’ images are nothing but hollow knockoffs, reducing true artistry to a mindless aesthetic filter.” However, some commenters on that post disagreed, believing that the trend is harmless fun. Another Reddit user replied to the previous post, “A poor person or a middle-aged women/man posting this art just to be happy for few seconds doesn’t deserve to be shredded to pieces for doing something they haven’t heard about in their lifetime.”
The founder of Studio Ghibli has his own opinions on AI art. In an interview from 2016 Miyazaki was asked how he felt about an AI art demonstration he was shown- his response could inform how he feels about this recent trend. When he was shown a video made entirely with AI art, he said he was “disgusted,” saying that he “would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”
Plenty of people continue to generate images from ChatGPT as well as several other sources, secure in their belief that it isn’t harming artists. However, those who are against AI art are trying to fight it; Karla Ortiz is a woman currently engaged in a multiple-year-long legal battle trying to sue several AI companies, including ChatGPT, for using the work of artists in the training for their image generators. With the debate on AI image generation still being fairly new, only time will tell what laws- if any- are made to prevent AI companies from using copyrighted art to fuel image generation.
