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Days after the AI-generated Studio Ghibli-style images took over the internet, Zelda Williams expressed her disapproval of such art. Zelda, daughter of the late actor Robin Williams, took to her Instagram Stories on March 28 to slam those using AI for the creation of Ghibli-style images, writing:
"People are gleefully sharing 'Studio Ghibli style' AI memes and photos, as though the man himself wouldn’t absolutely despise the technological piracy and negative effects on our environment."
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Zelda Williams then urged everyone to watch Princess Mononoke in theatres, which has been re-released considering the newfound craze for Ghibli. She further wrote:
"The amount of 'get used to it', 'it's fun', 'stop whining' that I see in response to anti AI sentiments is wild."
For the unversed, Princess Mononoke is a 1997 film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the man who founded Studio Ghibli alongside Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki back in 1985. The studio is widely known for its thoughtful hand-drawn animation. Miyazaki has also previously expressed his disapproval of using AI for creating art.
Meanwhile, critiquing the use of AI in making Ghibli-style images, Williams added:
"I can’t stop you from using the stupid, water wasting, sh**ty facsimile machines, in the same way you can’t stop me from talking about how deeply empty life will become if we relegate the pursuit of art or knowledge to a machine because some people don’t like the effort of learning, whether that’s an artistic skill or homework in school."
Zelda Williams is an American actress and director who starred alongside her father in the 2004 comedy-drama House of D and made her feature film directorial debut with 2024's romantic horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein.
More about Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki and his thoughts on AI-generated video game characters
Hayao Miyazaki had been interested in animation and manga from a young age. He started his career in 1963 as an in-between artist for Toei Animation but soon switched to key animator. He directed his first animated TV series in 1977, and in 1985, he co-founded Studio Ghibli.
Miyazaki's work with Studio Ghibli has often been compared to Walt Disney's animated work. Meanwhile, in a clip from 2016, when some video game makers presented characters they had made using AI, Miyazaki seemed quite unimpressed.
The characters shown were making some bizarre movements. The video game makers then enthused that for an animated zombie, AI could devise "grotesque movements which we humans can’t imagine."
After watching the AI characters, Miyazaki revealed how a disabled friend of his struggled to even give him a high-five because of his stiff muscles. Consequently, he did not find those animated characters interesting at all. He further said:
"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. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
Miyazaki is the mastermind behind animated movies like Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away, which earned him global recognition. One of his most recent creations is The Boy and the Heron (2023), which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
