- GPT-4O updated includes deeper training in a “variety of image styles”
- Users have created images by replicating the hand drawn of Studio Ghibli
- Renders raises legal and ethical questions about the work of living artists
TL; DR What is the debate?
Fans are using Openai’s latest generative model to create images that imitate the distinctive style drawn by the Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. The creatives have questioned whether this is ethical, since artists such as the founder of the Hayao Miyazaki study are still alive. Legal experts suggest that the style itself is not protected, but its use could be.
If you are a regular in X or Instagram, it is likely that your feed has been flooded this week by images that look like scenes of Energetic. But these imitation animations are not the work of the famous Japanese company Studio Ghibli: they are from Chatgpt. And that has some copyright experts who smile at the alarm.
Only a few days ago, Openai launched the latest version of GPT-4O, the generative the AI model that supports Chatgpt. This update introduced a more precise text representation, the ability to understand the most complex indications and, crucially, a deeper training in a “variety of image styles.”
A few hours after the update, fans were using chatgpt to create images that emulated the artistic style of different animations. The most common type of recreation? It will redeem that it has a strange similarity with the dream and hand -drawn aesthetics of Studio Ghibli.
Users have given Ghibli’s treatment to everything from popular memes to political figures. But with Chatgpt now apparently capable of replicating such an iconic aspect, there are serious questioning signs about the legality and morality of its use. Does the madness of Ghibli violates copyright? And is it ethical to imitate a living artist? We ask the expert lawyers and wear all the problems this short explanatory.
The debate: users flood social networks with gibli memes generated by AI
Fan Art is nothing new. During the time that there have been animations, fans have created works of art of replica. These community creations are generally tolerated by animation houses such as Studio Ghibli, provided they are not used for commercial purposes. Imitation is the most sincere way of flattery, after all.
Openai’s latest GPT-4 update changes that. Now, anyone can generate or transform an image into a Ghibli -style scene. What would have previously taken hours can now be achieved in seconds. Users can emulate art styles without appreciating the effort that would need an experienced animator to create the same scene.
Ghibli -style memes that are taken control of the Internet 😅 pic.twitter.com/96v8ip8ezxMarch 27, 2025
On the one hand, this opens the kingdom to users who want to create their own fan art but do not have the necessary skills. On the other hand, it possibly reduces the value and originality of the source material. The images that circulate on social networks faithfully replicate Ghibli’s aspect, without a single human artist involved.
Chatgpt’s ability to channel the visual language of animation houses such as Studio Ghibli makes it a powerful creative tool for fans. But there is also a moral dimension: some could see an imitation as easy as an affront to the hand -drawn legacy of the study, especially when applied to memes.
The founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, is known for his thorough animation approach framed by painting. The study spent more than a year encouraging a four -second scene in The wind rises. In a 2016 documentary, Miyazaki described the animation generated by AI as “an insult to life itself.”
Then there are legal questions. Many of the images that are seen on social networks are effectively of the appearance of Ghibli. Because it is capable of such a faithful imitation, some have questioned whether they violate the copyright of the study.
Awesome. The Gibi style is now going to be saturated and associated with lazy and boring content: I can’t wait for children to grow up thinking that Ghibli’s films are generated by AI and instead of art designed par excellent artists https://t.co/yfouguiryamMarch 27, 2025
Copyright generally does not protect a visual style as such. Therefore, the dreamers, large eyes and capricious creatures that are distinctive of Studio Gibli’s animations are probably not covered. Unless Chatgpt replied a specific character or scene, it could be difficult to try the infraction.
There is also the question of training data. Operai has not specifically revealed which image assets were used to train the latest version of its GPT-4O model. It only specifies that a “wide variety of image styles” that appears in the training data. Without more information, it is impossible to say whether the model was trained in Ghibli’s paintings with copyright directly, or if AI simply learned to emulate the aesthetics of publicly available derivatives, such as fans of existing fans.
But here is the verdict today of author expert lawyers on where all this could be directed.
Reality: style is not legally protected, but its use could be
We asked Chris Mammen, an IP litigating and a managing partner of the San Francisco office for Womble Bond Dickinson, for his expert information. “The copyright law in the United States does not protect ideas or styles,” explains Mammen. “An artist who creates a work” in the style of “Some other artist has been happening for centuries.”
According to Mammen, the tools of AI as chatgpt are changing two important factors when it comes to the fan’s art creations: “(a) the scale, the volume and the speed with which new works can be generated, and (b) the fidelity with which these new works generated quickly can imitate the style of the original.”
While Ghibli’s animations style may not be covered by copyright, the study could have other routes to protect its intellectual property. Mammen continues: “If someone represents that one of these images created by Genai is, in fact, a product of Studio Ghibli, then it could lead to problems, such as the false designation of origin, under the laws of registered competition and unfair.”
What is clear is that the tools of AI will continue to lead to new problems around the rules and gray areas involved with the derived and generative content. “These problems are really testing copyright limits and other intellectual property laws,” says Mammen.
These observations are echoing those of Matthew Sag, a professor of law at the University of Emory who studies the copyright and intelligence law, who recently told Business Insider: “Openai made a rather sensible decision to say” we will stop producing images in the style of the people. “Not because it is the infraction of copyright, but because people do not like people. Style, “said that,” he said. However, studies are a different matter.
Asked to comment Techradar, an OpenAi spokesman said: “Our goal is to give users as possible creative freedom. We continue to avoid generations in the style of individual living artists, but we do allow broader study styles, which people have used to generate and share some truly charming and inspired original creations.
With tools such as Chatgpt and Operai Sora advancing so quickly, legislators and political leaders are struggling to keep up with the thorny problems that arise around intellectual property as a result. As Mammen concludes, “the defenders on both sides of the issue are defending the legal reform.”
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