Whimsical, watercoloured versions of selfies, brand campaigns, and travel photos — all reimagined in the signature style of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli — are virtually inescapable on the internet right now.
The debate around AI and art isn’t new. But the latest trend of converting images into Ghibli-style art using OpenAI’s image-generation tool has set social media on fire.
Studio Ghibli prides itself on its use of hand-painted, 2D animation — a rarity in an era where most studios rely heavily on CGI and other digital technologies. This labor-intensive, detail-oriented approach gives rise to the fluid, dreamlike style the studio has become known for.
In an age where every aesthetic can be replicated and every emotion reverse-engineered, we need to ask: What are we actually creating? And who — or what — is profiting from it?
Watch the full video to know more about the ongoing debate.
Reporter: Aranya Mukerji
Camera: Vikram Sharma and Suresh Pandey
Editor: Sudhanshu
#StudioGhibli #AIArt #OpenAI #GhibliStyle #ArtVsAI #EthicsInAI #DigitalArt #TechAndCreativity #WhoOwnsArt #WatchNow #DeepDive
The debate around AI and art isn’t new. But the latest trend of converting images into Ghibli-style art using OpenAI’s image-generation tool has set social media on fire.
Studio Ghibli prides itself on its use of hand-painted, 2D animation — a rarity in an era where most studios rely heavily on CGI and other digital technologies. This labor-intensive, detail-oriented approach gives rise to the fluid, dreamlike style the studio has become known for.
In an age where every aesthetic can be replicated and every emotion reverse-engineered, we need to ask: What are we actually creating? And who — or what — is profiting from it?
Watch the full video to know more about the ongoing debate.
Reporter: Aranya Mukerji
Camera: Vikram Sharma and Suresh Pandey
Editor: Sudhanshu
#StudioGhibli #AIArt #OpenAI #GhibliStyle #ArtVsAI #EthicsInAI #DigitalArt #TechAndCreativity #WhoOwnsArt #WatchNow #DeepDive
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Is creativity dead? The debate around AI and art isn't new, but the latest update to OpenAI's
00:07image generation tool has set social media on fire. Whimsical watercoloured versions of selfies,
00:13brand campaigns, travel pics all reimagined in the signature style of Japanese animation house
00:19Studio Ghibli are virtually inescapable on the internet right now. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even
00:25had to issue a statement calling for users to limit their usage of the feature because of the
00:31strain it was putting on their graphic processing units. Welcome to Deep Dive with Outlook.
00:38I'm Aranya Mukherjee and today we will be unpacking how AI is changing the way we produce, consume,
00:45and value art. What used to take animators years to create can now be generated in seconds. With the
00:52right prompt and a push of a button, I can go from this to this.
00:59But what does this mean for the future of art? And what does this reveal about the current media
01:05landscape? Japanese director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, is internationally
01:11renowned as a cinematic genius. Inspired by the conflicts between man and nature, war and the
01:18human condition, his films critique the idea of greed, gluttony, and overconsumption with meditative
01:24precision. The studio prides itself on using hand-painted 2D animation at a time when most
01:30studios used extensive CGI and other digital technologies. This labor-intensive, detail-oriented
01:37approach contributes to the fluid, dreamlike style Studio Ghibli has become known for. This four-second
01:44clip from the Wind Rises took 13 months to animate. The Studio Ghibli case, while the most popular
01:50example right now, is not the first time AI has been used to produce and replicate art. Eight years ago,
01:56when shown a rendition of an early AI-generated animation, Miyazaki said,
02:01I don't want to feel something about life. However, not all artists and curators would agree.
02:09When Johannes Vermeer's A Girl with the Pearl Earring was on loan at the Marriage House Museum,
02:15they displayed an AI-generated version of the painting made by German artist Yulian van Dijken,
02:20which sparked controversy and support. Several other AI-generated interpretations were also
02:26featured by the museum. Museum director Martin Gosling described the AI pieces as lovely, surprising,
02:34witty, and original works. But here's the thing. This isn't the first time new technology has disrupted
02:41our idea of what art should be. This idea of replication and reinterpretation is a historic one,
02:49dating back 66,000 years to early stencils used in cave painting. During the Italian Renaissance,
02:55students of art learned by copying masters. Precision, imitation, and repetition were part
03:00of the creative process, not separate from it. In 19th century India, Raja Ravi Verma used the
03:05lithograph to mass-produce prints of his oil paintings. Images of Hindu gods and common people
03:11could now exist in the homes of millions across the country. This sparked fierce backlash. Many in the
03:17upper caste called it sacrilegious, claiming that sacred art belongs in temples or places of worship,
03:24not in print form hanging in people's homes. Many also saw it as a threat to art itself, but Varma's
03:30prints were revolutionary. Then came photography, another moment of reckoning, popularized in the
03:36early 20th century. Suddenly, anyone with a camera could capture the reality and the painter's monopoly on
03:43visual storytelling was over. While the printing press allowed the masses to buy art, the camera allowed the
03:49masses to capture and create it. This also created a growing demand for content. Photographer and
03:56philosopher Susan Sontag wrote in the introduction to Peter Huger's 1976 book, Portraits of Life and Death,
04:02photography converts the world itself into a department store or museum without walls in which every subject
04:10is depreciated into an article of consumption. Written nearly 50 years ago, Sontag's words still resonate
04:17today, particularly with the advent of AI. In today's digital era, AI-generated art fosters the culture of
04:24hyper-consumerism where works can be mass-produced by anyone and rapidly consumed without much thought,
04:31leaving little room for emotion and the meditativeness that is essential to creations like that of Miyazaki's.
04:37Furthermore, the ingenuity of Miyazaki Vermeer Rajaravi Verma is missing for AI-generated art,
04:44as it is only able to copy and reinterpret existing images. The new update reveals how OpenAI's ability
04:52to plagiarize is becoming increasingly unregulated, many calling it a direct violation of copyright law.
04:58Just last week, a federal court dismissed OpenAI's motion to dismiss the copyright infringement lawsuit
05:04filed against it by the New York Times. In an age where every aesthetic can be replicated and
05:10every emotion reverse-engineered, we need to ask, what are we actually creating and who or what is
05:16profiting from it? Maybe creativity isn't dead, but it's being crowded out by content, fast, flat,
05:23and frictionless. Stay tuned for more deep dives like this.