That time Hayao Miyazaki said that AI-generated art was ‘an insult to life itself’

There has been a lot of talk recently about AI art and the artists who make a living creating art are not happy about it. In fact, they protested Epic’s ArtStation for not banning it. There are many issues that come with AI artwork and one of the greatest animators of all time has already shared his thoughts on it.

Years ago, legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli was shown footage of the AI-generated animation, which was presented as an animation tool. We actually shared this several years ago, but I wanted to share it again because it’s more relevant now than ever.

This was part of a documentary by Kaku Arakawa documenting work at Studio Ghibli, and after showing the creepy and dehumanizing AI animation, Miyazaki said:

“Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is. I am absolutely disgusted. I would never incorporate this technology into my work. I feel strongly that this is an insult to life itself.”

The meeting ends after a Studio Ghibli team admits they want to create a program that draws like a human. Miyazaki was adamantly against this saying:

“I feel we are approaching the end times. We humans are losing faith in ourselves.”

Now, after all these years, this is exactly what AI technology is doing and there is no doubt that Miyazki is shaking his head in despondency like many other artists out there. But there will always be people who will try to push the technology forward, regardless of the consequences.

miyazaki of studio ghibli, after watching an artificial intelligence presentation: “I feel strongly that this is an insult to life itself.” pic.twitter.com/UmOOWvsfjV

— Tofu (@TofuPixel) December 12, 2022