Ghibli for all, or not? Experts decode implication of the AI artwork phenomenon

On March 29 days after putting out the lsquoGhiblirsquo version of the latest image rendering phenomenon by OpenAIrsquos ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman took to X to ask users to slow down ldquoCan yrsquoall please chill on generating images This is insane our team needs sleeprdquo he wrote It was a sign of the feverish intensity with which the internet exploded with images rendered in the style of Hayao Miyazakirsquos Studio GhibliNew revolutionFounded in 1985 Studio Ghibli continues to espouse handdrawn animation films in the world of 3D and AI designs The founding members mdash Hayao Miyazaki Toshio Suzuki Isao Takahata and Yasuyoshi Takuma mdash evolved the style through much loved films such as Howlrsquos Moving Castle Spirited Away and My Neighbour TotoroSam Altman as a Ghibli character Pic CourtesySam AltmanSuch was the phenomenon that few could escape it From the White House to Sachin Tendulkar and Shashi Tharoor everyone wanted their own slice of the Ghibli nostalgia Veteran filmmaker and animator Suresh Eriyat understands why ldquoIt is fantastic and aspirational It is how people would like to see themselvesrdquo shares the filmmaker a fan who met the legendary Japanese artist during his recent trip to JapanThe phenomenon of AI is also not new to illustrators However as illustrator Prasad Bhat explains ldquoI donrsquot mind if anyone uses AI as a tool in the creation process It is lovely But if I use someone elsersquos IP to create something I am bound to get a legal noticerdquoSatyajit Rayrsquos Pather Panchali gets an anime revamp Pic CourtesySaffronBengali on XArt is not aestheticsBhat points out that firstly people ought to stop calling these AIgenerated images lsquoartrsquo ldquoRendering an image is not art Art is a process Here it is reduced to the outcomerdquo he says Comic creator and founder Kini Studios Abhijeet Kini calls it an ageold battle ldquoFrom the camera to digital tools technology and art have had conflicts I use several tools myself The difference is that with AI images are generated without any cerebral effort If everyone can create Ghibli or have Ghibli it loses its rarity and valuerdquoSuresh Eriyat Abhijeet Kini Aaryama Somayaji and Prasad BhatAnother illustrator Aaryama Somayaji questioned the ethics of the task ldquoPraising technological innovation and apathetic overuse of an art housersquos decadesinthemaking iconic style of working are mutually exclusive The images that flooded the Internet were made without the consent of Studio Ghibli its rightful owners and creators That is where the issue liesrdquo she wrote to us Who owns the artThe debate about copyright with AI generated images is that it eschews all thought Bhat adds that with technology evolving at a faster pace than expected the industry is caught by surpriseJamshed MistryEriyat notes ldquoAnimators are already being offloaded by the hundreds Technicolor recently let go of 3000 staff I have heard conversations of agencies asking animators why they should wait for weeks when they could get an AI to create in days People might not understand the consequences of this but the technology creators do When they choose to use an artistrsquos lifelong work questions have to be askedrdquoJamshed Mistry counsel Bombay High Court offers a voice of calm ldquoThe Copyright Act in India as it stands offers the artist the rights as the first author If Ghibli Studios were in India they would be well within their rights to send a legal noticerdquo he explains Does the absence of a monetising prospect with the tool affect any case we wonder ldquoNordquo Mistry explains ldquoChatGPT may not be a monetising toolSachin Tendulkar joins the trend with a recreation of a moment from the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Pic CourtesySachinTendulkar on XHowever as a platform it does bring them fame and enables their funding indirectly On the second level they do not have control of how the person who obtains the toolrsquos services might use itrdquo Then again he adds the case law in India is yet to develop on the AI front ldquoThe difficulty is that technology is evolving faster than the legal solutionsrdquoHayao Miyazaki Pic CourtesyWikimedia CommonsTechnology versus artWhile Eriyat admits this is an inevitable point of conflict the offense is more ethical He explains ldquoGhibli is an artistic style that slowly evolved over decades and decades of work on details To have it shortchanged like this felt like a cruel irony knowing Miyazaki sanrsquos opinion of AIrdquoKini explains ldquoHumans understand and value the time and effort put into an artistrsquos work Art is valued because it is a laborious process If in the near future AI evolves to create its own artworks it would still not be art Copies of Mona Lisa are not Mona LisardquoShashi Tharoor in a Ghibli avatar Pic CourtesyShashi Tharoor on XIn Miyazakirsquos wordsIn 2016 when Hayao Miyazaki was shown a display of an experimental AI module the animator had recalled the struggle of his differentlyabled friend to even lift a hand ldquoWhoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all I strongly feel it is an insult to life itselfrdquo he told the bemused creators