Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs, but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as Spirited Away, his son has told AFP.
Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements.
Movies such as My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle are famous for their lush nature and fantastical machinery, painstakingly drawn by hand.
While the studio has not commented directly on the image trend, Goro Miyazaki predicted that artificial intelligence could one day replace animators.
"It wouldn't be surprising if, in two years' time, there was a film made completely through AI," Studio Ghibli's managing director said in an interview last week.
But whether audiences would want to watch a fully AI-generated animation is another matter, he continued.
Despite the rapid changes, new technology also brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge", added Goro Miyazaki.
He was speaking at the Ghibli atelier in western Tokyo, days before the San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker OpenAI released its latest image generator.
OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
"Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible," the US company said.
Bittersweet
Japan is grappling with a shortage of skilled animators, partly because most spend years in low-paid jobs to learn the ropes.
Digitally savvy Gen Z may be also less enthusiastic about the manual labour involved, Goro Miyazaki said.
"Nowadays, the world is full of opportunities to watch anything, anytime, anywhere," he explained, making it harder to imagine making a living from the physical act of drawing.
Goro Miyazaki's father, Hayao Miyazaki, founded Studio Ghibli with Isao Takahata in 1985, a year after directing the post-apocalyptic Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
After Takahata's death in 2018, Hayao Miyazaki - now 84 and a heavy smoker - continued to create films with 76-year-old producer Toshio Suzuki.
"If those two can't make anime or can't move, then what happens?" Goro Miyazaki said when asked about Ghibli's future.
"It's not like they can be replaced."
Despite his age, Hayao Miyazaki won his second Oscar last year with The Boy and the Heron - likely his last feature film.
Anime cartoons are usually for children, but Takahata and Miyazaki, men "from the generation that knew war", included darker elements that appeal to adults, Goro Miyazaki said.
"It's not all sweet - there's also a bitterness and things like that, which are beautifully intertwined in the work," he said, describing a "smell of death" that permeates the films.
"That's actually what makes the work so deep."
For younger people who grew up in peacetime, Goro Miyazaki said, "it is impossible to create something with the same sense, approach, and attitude that my father's generation had".
Even My Neighbor Totoro, with its cuddly forest spirit creatures, is in some ways a "scary" movie that explores the fear of losing a sick mother, he explained.
Insult to life
As the Ghibli-style AI images proliferated, a 2016 video of Hayao Miyazaki resurfaced that many said showed his disdain for the technology.
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," the director says in the short clip, taken from a documentary.
However, he was in fact reacting to an AI-assisted computer graphic of a zombie-like creature, which he calls "extremely unpleasant" in the full footage.
Goro Miyazaki joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed animations including the 2006 feature Tales from Earthsea and 2011's From Up on Poppy Hill.
He also oversaw the development of the Ghibli Museum and the newly opened Ghibli Park in Japan.
Goro Miyazaki enjoyed drawing as a boy and said he learned a lot watching his father's and Takahata's work, although he didn't think he could live up to their talent.
"My mother, who was also an animator, told me not to pursue this career because it's a tough and busy job," he said, adding that his father was rarely at home.
"But I always wanted to do something creative."
Source: AFP
