“It’s Studio Ghibli, Jerry.” pic.twitter.com/DEE0LrIUor
— Sardaukar (@Sardaukar1337) March 26, 2025
In recent weeks, the Internet has been swarming with “Ghiblified” images. At first glance, these images seem to be charming odes to Studio Ghibli’s iconic animation style, but look closer and warped fingers, lines, and edges emerge. All of them have been generated by AI models like ChatGPT, sparking controversy within animation circles and other creative industries over copyright and ethical concerns. These debates have intensified so much that Japanese lawmakers are now considering making such “Ghiblified” content illegal.
At a recent government committee meeting, Constitutional Democratic Party member Masato Imai brought up the topic, citing possible copyright violations.
“There has been a discussion of whether the so-called ‘Ghiblification,’ making AI-generated images in the Ghibli style, constitutes copyright violation. Under the current interpretation of the law, just how legal is it?” Imai asked Hirohika Nakahara, the director-general for Japan’s Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Strategy.
“Ultimately, that is something for courts to decide,” Nakahara replied. “If AI-generated content is determined to be similar to or reliant on preexisting copyrighted works, then there is a possibility that it could constitute copyright infringement.”
“So the use of styles and ideas is legal, but if [an AI-generated image] were recognized as being ‘Ghibli itself,’ then that would be a violation of law,” Imai clarified.
But copyright infringement is only one dimension to these rising criticisms. More potent are Hayao Miyazaki’s own principles, which have guided Studio Ghibli’s artistic ethos for decades. In a 2016 documentary, for instance, a Japanese media company showed Miyazaki a demo animation of a zombie dragging its head along the ground, produced by AI technology. The renowned animator and artist stared blankly at the screen until it ended, and only then did his face betray his stoicism, revealing his repulsion.
“I’m utterly disgusted,” Miyazaki said. “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
This has long been understood as Miyazaki’s stance on AI-generated art and animation. Studio Ghibli, which was originally founded by Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki in 1985, has consistently prioritized incredible detail and human-driven narratives throughout its films, including Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke. Even as large animation studios pivoted to CGI animation in the early 2000s, Miyazaki remained loyal to hand-drawn, celluloid animation. He has personally created thousands of animated frames by hand for his projects, many of which consider humanity’s impact upon and relationship to the natural world.
“Irony is dead and all but it’s pretty depressing to see Ghibli AI slop not only because Miyazaki famously thinks AI art is disgusting but because he’s spent the last 50 years making art about environmental waste for petty human uses,” one user writes on X (formerly Twitter).
Jason Zhao, the co-founder of the AI-powered IP tokenization platform Story, shares a similar sentiment in the Observer. “Today, someone can mimic an iconic style like Ghibli with a few prompts and face little to no consequence,” Zhao says. “It’s a failure to recognize the value of creative identity in the digital age.”
In recent weeks, ChatGPT-generated images in Studio Ghibli’s signature style have swarmed the Internet.
It’s been 24 hours since OpenAI unexpectedly shook the AI image world with 4o image generation.
Here are the 14 most mindblowing examples so far (100% AI-generated):
1. Studio ghibli style memespic.twitter.com/E38mBnPnQh
— Barsee (@heyBarsee) March 26, 2025
Iconic movie scenes, Studio Ghibli style. This is so much fun! pic.twitter.com/LwjkNjcEV9
— Mufaddal Durbar (@MDurbar) March 26, 2025
Not many people are happy about it, including Japanese lawmakers, who may move to make such “Ghiblified” AI images illegal.
Miyazaki spent his entire life building one of the most expansive and imaginative bodies of work, all so you could rip it off and use it as a filter for your vacation photos.
Not into this one bit. Protect artists.
— Robbie Shilstone (@shilstone_arts) March 26, 2025
Imagine being Miyazaki, pouring decades of heart and soul into making this transcendent beautiful tender style of anime, and then seeing it get sloppified by linear algebra
— Nabeel S. Qureshi (@nabeelqu) March 26, 2025
Sources: ChatGPT’s ‘Ghiblification’ Craze: What Does Ghibli’s Creator Think of A.I.?; The AI-Generated Studio Ghibli Trend, Explained; Japanese lawmakers are considering making ChatGPT’s Ghibli images illegal
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