The Rise of AI-Generated Art: A Ghibli-Style Frenzy
The trend of AI-generated images has made significant progress since the days of abstract renderings and glitchy amalgamations. OpenAI’s newly released "Images for ChatGPT" has an uncanny ability to nail depth, shadows, and even text. It’s unleashed a frenzy of people recreating a familiar style: Hayao Miyazaki’s work at Studio Ghibli.
The Trend Kicked Off Wholesomely
The trend started innocently enough. Couples transformed portraits, pet owners generated cartoonish cats, and many people are busily Ghibli-fying their families (I’ve stuck to selfies, not wanting to share with OpenAI my siblings’ likenesses). It’s an AI-generated version of the human-drawn art commissions people offer on Etsy — you and your loved ones, in the style of your favorite anime.
Chaos Mode
It didn’t take long for the trend to go full chaos mode. Nothing is sacred: the Twin Towers on 9/11, JFK’s assassination, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signing a woman’s chest, President Donald Trump’s infamous group photo with Jeffrey Epstein, and even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s congressional testimony have all been reimagined with that distinctive Ghibli whimsy (it’s not clear whether these users transformed uploaded images, or prompted the system to copy them). Altman has played into the trend too — he even changed his X profile picture into a Ghibli rendering of himself and encouraged his followers to make him a new one.
Guidelines and Safeguards
The guidelines for Images with ChatGPT are surprisingly flexible about producing this kind of content. "The model can generate images that resemble the aesthetics of some artists’ work when their name is used in the prompt," according to the GPT-4o system card. "We added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist."
OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson told The Verge that the company isn’t "blocking the model’s capability to depict adult public figures, but we implement the same safeguards we employ for editing images of photorealistic uploads of people." She added that "depicting violence in artistic, creative or fictional contexts is generally allowed to enable creative and artistic endeavors."
The Future of AI-Generated Art
Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible. We continue to prevent generations in the style of individual living artists. We do permit broader studio styles — which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations," Christianson wrote via email.
Conclusion
The rise of AI-generated art has brought both excitement and controversy. While it’s clear that OpenAI wants to give users creative freedom, it’s equally clear that the company is walking a fine line between artistic expression and copyright infringement. As the trend continues to evolve, it’s unclear what the future holds for AI-generated art. One thing is certain, however: the debate over its use and impact will only continue to grow.
