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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nArtificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly infiltrated the creative sphere, sparking debates about its influence on artistic integrity, copyright laws, and the livelihood of traditional artists. Most recently, AI tools such as ChatGPT have enabled users to transform images into the iconic hand-drawn style of Studio Ghibli, the legendary animation house founded by Hayao Miyazaki. Social media is now flooded with “Ghiblified” images of friends, pets, celebrities, and even internet-famous memes, igniting discussions on whether it is a revolutionary artistic tool, a trend that will eventually die down or an existential threat to human creativity. Let’s take a look… In a 2016 documentary that went viral on social media, Miyazaki was shown an AI demo featuring a animation. The presenter suggested that the software could generate eerie, lifelike movements that human animators had never conceived. Reacting to the same, he said he was “utterly disgusted” by the display, as seen in the documentary footage. The studio behind classics such as “Spirited Away”, “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Ponyo”, “Grave of the Fireflies” and more, has yet to comment on the image trend, but Goro said to AFP, “It wouldn’t be surprising if, in two years’ time, there was a film made completely through AI.” However, he noted that whether audiences would want to watch a fully AI-generated animation was another matter. In contrast, another tweet, shared a 1.52 minute trailer of The Lord of the Rings in an animated format. “What if Studio Ghibli directed Lord of the Rings?” AI Filmmaker PJ Ace asked. He went on to say, “I spent $250 in Kling credits and 9 hours re-editing the Fellowship trailer to bring that vision to life\u2014and I\u2019ll show you exactly how I did it.”<\/p>\n Ace’s post only highlights Hollywood actor-director Ben Affleck’s recent comments calling AI a “craftsman at best.” During his interview at 2024 CNBC Delivering Alpha investor summit, the “Batman” star declared, \u201cMovies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI.\u201d
The Ghibli AI Phenomenon<\/span>
The AI-generated Ghibli-style trend has taken the internet by storm, rendering real-world images into whimsical pictures that look like they were frames from a Ghibli classic. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, encouraged users to stretch their creative limits by experimenting with their latest toolset. CEO Sam Altman even adopted a Ghibli-style avatar on social media platform X.
However, critics argue that this ‘artificial’-driven art generation poses a serious threat to the originality and livelihood of human artists, an issue that legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has spoken passionately about.
Miyazaki\u2019s Outspoken Resistance to AI<\/span>
Although Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli has not issued a formal statement, the artist’s disdain for AI-generated animation is well-known. <\/p>\n
Without mincing his words, Miyazaki said 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.
AI vs Artists<\/span>
The rise of aritficially-generated art has sparked larger discussions about its impact on traditional artists. Many fear that automation could strip creatives of their livelihood, much like industrial automation replaced manual labour in the past. Goro Miyazaki, the son of the legendary filmmaker and Studio Ghibli\u2019s managing director, echoed these concerns, predicting ‘Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists’ jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki.’<\/p>\n
Despite the rapid changes, new technology also brings “great potential for unexpected talent to emerge”, added Goro.
Fears of technological enhancements are not new. The journey of film and animation has been a remarkable one, evolving from rudimentary drawings to multi-million dollar digital productions. What began as a series of still images presented in rapid succession to create the illusion of motion, soon developed in the late 19th century with the Lumi\u00e8re brothers ushering in the projected motion pictures to be viewed by audiences. Animation soon followed, with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937), becoming the first feature-length animated film. The transition from film reels to digital formats marked another significant shift in the industry. The introduction of computer-generated imagery (CGI), visual effects (VFX) and 3D, opened up the audiences to an immersive film experiene.
AI In Movies<\/span>
Amidst the buzz around the possibilities of AI and its tools, a video from the documentary \u201c10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki\u201d, doing the rounds online shed light on the mind-boggling efforts Miyazaki’s team put into a film. As mentioned in a tweet, “Each has 60k-70k frames, all hand-drawn and painted with watercolour. This 4-second clip from \u201cThe Wind Rises\u201d took one animator 15 months to do.” <\/p>\n
While insisting “Nothing new is created” with AI, he explained, \u201cWhat AI is going to do is dis-intermediate the more laborious, less creative, and more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow costs to be brought down, that will lower the barrier to entry, that will allow more voices to be heard, that will make it easier for the people want to make \u2018Good Will Huntings\u2019 to go out and make it.”
The Brutalist: “The Brutalist,” an Oscar-nominated film, sparked controversy for its use of AI to refine the dialogues by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, raising questions about authenticity and transparency in filmmaking. Director Brady Corbet issued a statement, which explained that AI audio technology Respeecher \u201cwas used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed.\u201d He defended his lead actors’ performances saying, \u201cAdrien and Felicity\u2019s performances are completely their own.\u201d
Speaking at a roundtable discussion attended by ETimes, Felicity Jones addressed the growing excitement\u2014and concern\u2014surrounding AI in filmmaking. \u201cIn the sort of face of things like AI, which everyone\u2019s all getting all very excited about, I think really, you know, the idea of things that still feel human and still feel real, we as human beings are going to\u2026 Yeah, gravitate towards that,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAs much as AI is a wonderful novelty, it doesn\u2019t\u2014 I think we should be careful not to slip into the idea that it\u2019s the answer to things, you know. The answer to things is right here in the people that we are, and yeah, we\u2019ve got to be careful with, particularly with technology, I think.\u201d
Respeecher was also credited in the post-production of “Emilia P\u00e9rez”, while another AI tool, AudioShake, was employed to isolate opera singer Maria Callas\u2019 vocals from 1960s in the biopic “Maria”. Rising Sun’s machine-learning technology was also used in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis to integrate actor Austin Butler into archival footage of Elvis Presley.
Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks also defended AI\u2019s role in digital de-ageing, a technology used in his upcoming film “Here”, directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film, spans 100 years in a single living room, requiring Hanks and co-star Robin Wright to appear decades younger in certain scenes. \u201cWe knew that this supercomputer was going to do all the work of six months of postproduction in a nanosecond,\u201d Hanks told Radio Times. \u201cSo we shot the scenes at Pinewood and we could look at them immediately.\u201d
Wright acknowledged the software’s growing influence but expressed concerns about ethical implications, \u201cIt\u2019s happening already. People are using AI without consent and creating actors saying things they never said. So this isn\u2019t new. That\u2019s the scary part.\u201d
Ethics, Morals, and the Impact on Artists<\/span>
The increasing use of AI in creative industries has prompted ethical concerns, particularly regarding fair compensation for artists. Clayton D\u2019mello, a digital artist, sees AI as a valuable tool for non-creatives but warns of its negative impact on professional artists.
\u201cI personally think AI is a lovely tool for a lot of non-creatives to express themselves and people to engage and take interest in cross-disciplinary learning. It\u2019s also nice to see people simply express themselves with it (like the Ghibli selfies),\u201d he said. However, D\u2019mello also highlighted, \u201cThe problem for me arises when money gets involved. A ton of people and a lot of my close friends who rely on commissions for work have been deeply affected. The art community has been hurting for a while now, and it\u2019s hard to witness the state at which our industry is in. It\u2019s also unfair that revenue earned through AI (AI art specifically) is starting to concentrate within these few corporate companies, putting a ton of individual creative entrepreneurs at a big disadvantage.\u201d
Harsh Saraiya, a film video editor, offered a nuanced take on AI\u2019s role in creative fields. \u201cIt\u2019s good and bad in both ways. Bad if you\u2019re insecure about your work, and good if you know how to utilise it in your work.\u201d
Role of AI in Animation<\/span>
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the animation industry, sparking debates over its potential benefits and drawbacks.
AI’s ability to generate images and animations based on prompts has made it a powerful tool for artists and studios. Jourgen Dsouza, a professional in the field, embraces its potential, stating, “Let AI create everything as long as it depends on human imagination.”
For concept artists and animators, this development presents opportunities to automate time-consuming tasks, such as rendering and character rigging, allowing them to focus on refining artistic vision. Despite its advancements, AI in animation is still in its infancy stages. D’mello, explains, “Despite AI having gotten pretty good at mimicry in the creative space, it still feels like it\u2019s in its infancy. I know a lot of artists (myself included) would love to put it to practical and ethical use to speed up workflows and get better results, but the way it operates still makes it hard to use directly in our workflows.”
He adds, “The reason I bring this up is that most material done for entertainment media is usually built from the ground up, and there\u2019s a lot of deep intent that creates a conscious\/subconscious lasting impression on the viewer. Copy-pasting or mimicking artwork based on prompts can only get so far.”
For animation, where every design element plays a crucial role in storytelling, AI’s limitations become apparent. D’mello further adds, “Production finds it hard to keep up with demand, and having systems automated would most certainly be a boon to our industry. Unfortunately, what we have now with AI\u2019s systems isn\u2019t what we expected it to be. That\u2019s why artists are so upset about it (even those in favor of it). There are a lot of people trying to figure out how they could incorporate it into their workflows.”
AI in Music<\/span>
K-pop sensation SEVENTEEN embraced artificial intelligence in their latest music video for the lead single “MAESTRO.” Band member Hoshi revealed at the album launch event, attended by ETimes, that AI-generated visuals played a key role in enhancing the video\u2019s aesthetic appeal.
When asked if the group had used AI for songwriting or lyric composition, the siinger acknowledged experimenting with the technology. “I have tried, of course, because this is a technological development that we have to leverage, not just be dissatisfied with. I think it’s something that we have to use along the way. So I practised using it, and I try to look for what’s the good thing about it. What’s the pros and cons of using AI? Technology is advancing so quickly, and what can we do to keep our identity intact? So this is something that I always ponder on, and I really love the music video for MAESTRO, because when we were working on it together with the film directors, the music video directors, we talked about the same thing, about the pros and cons of using AI and how we have to live with it.”
While SEVENTEEN explored AI as a creative tool, Indian singer and Indian Idol judge Vishal Dadlani has strongly opposed its use in the visual arts. In response to the viral Studio Ghibli-style AI trend, Dadlani took to Instagram to denounce what he considers the unethical replication of an artist\u2019s life\u2019s work.
“Sorry, I’m not sharing any of the Studio Ghibli-style images you guys have made of or for me. I just can’t bring myself to support AI\u2019s plagiarization of an artist’s life’s work. Not to mention, the environmental horror that those images are. Please do NOT make any more. Thank you,” he wrote.
The Future of AI in Films, Music and Art<\/span>
The debate over AI\u2019s role in music and art continues with some viewing it as a powerful tool for enhancing creativity, while others see it as a threat to originality.
Clayton D\u2019mello weighed in on the larger implications and suggested, “In conclusion to all of that, I see it more as a trend for now flooding \u2018instant gratification apps\u2019\u2014till we figure out how to put it to better and more ethical use. Even art runs out of style all the time.”
He concludes with a thought-provoking question, “Would you pay to watch a film composed entirely of AI-generated shots for an hour today?”<\/div>\n