No AI Ghibli for me

We live in the age of going viral — quick to pick up trends, keen to “try” things out. The virality of short-form content reached its crescendo last week when OpenAI’s ChatGPT users were allowed to create Studio Ghibli-style AI (artificial intelligence) images. And then all AI hell broke loose. The internet was flooded with thousands of Ghibli-fied images — almost everyone jumped onto the bandwagon. — all wanted to see and show how their photographs looked in a Ghibli world.

We’d expect this all-consuming craze from plebeians, but when companies, investors, politicians, governments, and so-called “thinkers” of society fall for the Ghibli trend — it makes you wonder…is there no value for human artistry? Why such a brazen disregard for copyright issues? Just because a leading AI company launches a feature, all of us rush to incorporate it? Have we lost our thinking mind? There was no better specimen of the global sheep mentality on display than the Ghibli trend.

I believe in the transformative power of AI. As an enabler, AI can help automate work, build greater efficiencies, and reduce costs of production. But even as AI is revolutionising the world, there are important conversations that can’t be side-stepped. The AI Studio Ghibli trend exposes several such problematic areas. Let’s first talk about the artist’s creative freedom and intellectual property rights. Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki spends months and years at times sketching and animating various scenes. Now compare that to the seconds it takes to change any image to its Ghibli-fied version. Cool? Yes. Necessary? Perhaps not.

Next, we come to the blatant copyright issues at play here. Did Studio Ghibli give its consent? Years earlier in 2016, the Japanese film director and animator had said that he was “utterly disgusted” by AI. With its Studio Ghibli feature, OpenAI, and by extension, everyone who has used the feature, has disrespected an iconic artist’s life’s work. AI-generated images are an insult to the artist who has spent years perfecting his craft. His art is his copyright, his creativity is his intellectual property. This further opens up the debate on AI and art. In February, over 4,000 people wrote an open letter to Christie’s auction house to cancel a sale dedicated to AI art. The call to cancel this first-of-its-kind event was propelled by concerns that the generative AI models used to generate such digital art was trained on copyrighted material and therefore, exploits human artists. I know in today’s world, showing reverence is an uncommon entity. Sure, we will worship our gods but genuine deference for nature, animals, art, history, or even fellow human beings is fast becoming a rare commodity.

The law remains grey in this region so far. With AI’s overarching influence on our lives, legal protections would have to be widened to ensure that artists’ interests are safeguarded. In January, the US Copyright Office decided that artists can copyright work that they created using AI but “purely AI-generated material” will not be permitted for protection. In January 2023, three illustrators — Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz — formed a class action lawsuit and filed it against multiple AI companies, stating that the programs were trained on their art without their consent. Laws around the world would have to race to protect the creative minds behind all kinds of art. Shielding the artists is more important than ever today because while anyone can use technology to feel like an artist, there are only a select few who can create true magic with their hands.

There’s also a massive environmental challenge caused by the Ghibli trend. OpenAI boss, Sam Altman, said that the burden of generated images was leading to their GPUs (graphic processing units) melting. Research from the University of California, Riverside and the University of Texas at Arlington has highlighted the enormous quantities of freshwater required to train and operate AI models. As per the study, training a single large language model such as GPT-3 can lead to 5.4 million litres of water evaporating. The study further warned that global water consumption caused by AI will reach between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic metres in the next two years. ChatGPT’s AI says that each Ghibli-style image generated by it uses 0.5 litres to 2 litres of water; an estimated 216 litres of water was spent in just 5 days! Therefore, OpenAI should be decried for its irresponsible and unethical corporate behaviour, not celebrated for it.

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal