If you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you may have noticed a lot of Ghibli-style AI artwork.
An old video of Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has resurfaced online.
In the clip, Miyazaki criticises AI-generated animation, calling it “an insult to life itself.”
If you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you may have noticed a lot of Ghibli-style AI artwork. OpenAI’s latest image-generation update has sparked a wave of creativity, with users flooding social media with stunning AI-generated pictures that resemble the Studio Ghibli style.
But amid this trend, an old video (which dates back to 2016) of Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has resurfaced online. In the clip, Miyazaki criticises AI-generated animation, calling it “an insult to life itself.”
Also read: Studio Ghibli AI images take over internet: What is it and why is it getting attention
Since this utter garbage is trending, we should take a look at what Hayao Miyazaki, the founder of Studio Ghibli, said about machine created art. https://t.co/1TMPcFGIJE pic.twitter.com/IvaM9WZL3T
— Nuberodesign (@nuberodesign) March 26, 2025
The video shows Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki reacting to an AI-generated animation presented to them. The animation featured a zombie-like figure moving in an unnatural way. One presenter described the animation, saying, “It looks like it’s dancing. It’s moving by using its head. It doesn’t feel any pain and has no concept of protecting its head. It uses its head like a leg. This movement is so creepy and could be applied to a zombie video game. Artificial intelligence could present us with grotesque movements that we humans can’t imagine.”
However, Miyazaki did not share their enthusiasm. He compared the animation to his disabled friend who struggles with basic movements, making it clear that he found the AI-generated motion disturbing rather than innovative.
Also read: Want to create Ghibli style portraits for free? Here’s how you can do it
“I can’t watch this stuff and find [it] interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all,” he said. “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
To this, one of the developers responded, saying, “This is just our experiment and we don’t intend to do anything by showing it to the world.” Suzuki, who was also in the room, then questioned the team’s purpose, and they admitted their goal was to create a machine that could draw like humans.
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Ayushi Jain
Tech news writer by day, BGMI player by night. Combining my passion for tech and gaming to bring you the latest in both worlds. View Full Profile
