Is the Ghibli AI art debate full of loopholes?

QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT

Eight years ago, in a world where artificial intelligence just meant robots from the distant future, Miyazaki was presented with a particularly creepy video by Nobuo Kawakami, the chairman of DWANGO (a Japanese telecommunications and media company). “Artificial intelligence could present us with grotesque movements,” says Nobuo, gesturing to a figure crawling using its head as a limb. “This movement is so creepy and could be applied to zombie video games.”

To this, Miyazaki replies, “Every morning… not recent days, but I see my friend who has a disability. It’s so hard for him just to do a high five with his stiff arm muscles reaching out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is. I am utterly disgusted.” He then tells Nobuo and his team that he would never use this technology in his work and that it is an insult to life itself. Was he “disgusted” by the bizarre video? Anyone watching it would be. It is hard to tell if Miyazaki ever expressed that he was ‘utterly disgusted by AI’. There is a high likelihood that this rallying cry online is completely out of context and not even factually correct. Following suit, we can believe anything.

THE TORTURED ARTIST

Online and off, there is nothing more sensational than a tortured artist. Especially if he is a man. Think Johnny Depp, Hemingway, Van Gogh, Kurt Cobain. Hayao Miyazaki fits right into the mould. He creates great films but is filled with exquisite ennui, the sign of a great man. We accept that he is… a little grumpy. In an Oscars interview from 2014, he says, “I tell my animators, don’t worry about how many pages of animation you’re drawing, don’t try to limit yourself. Even if we draw many, many pages, we still save by not having to buy another computer.” How thrifty—at the cost of human labour.

Miyazaki is not hesitant with his critique. He once said, “Anime was a mistake. It’s nothing but trash.” Another time, he observed, “They say it’s over for animation in Japan. When we look for new hires, only women respond, and I get the feeling that we’re done for.” Suffice to say, Miyazaki is a bit of a reductionist, but maybe his sentiments get lost in translation. We love him anyway because we love Spirited Away. We refuse to separate the art and the artist.

MISDIRECTED ANGER

Let’s say you care about Ghibli AI art because the innocuous-looking “filter” is symptomatic of animators losing their jobs. If you think someone’s Ghibli-fied cat is the same artistically as a feature film, that’s a shallow take. We can’t turn back time on artificial intelligence, but it’s unfair to blame the person behind the computer instead of the tech-bros in the Silicon Valleys of the world.

Reprimanding Instagram users for the end of art, much like blaming individuals for climate change, is just the easiest route. Artificial intelligence has profited off the intellectual properties of countless artists who will never be venerated in an Instagram carousel. It’s time we zoom out of the Ghibli-fied image and focus on the bigger picture. Is it really AI killing the planet and destroying art or the forces that benefit from our distraction?

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