Hayao Miyazaki Probably Wouldn't Be Thrilled With All These AI Ghibli Images
The demand for these images was so high that they now require a subscription.
Published March 27 2025, 9:57 a.m. ET
In part because it stems from just a few men, the style of Studio Ghibli has always been pretty distinct. Anime drawing styles all look relatively similar, but even within that world, Ghibli movies all look a certain way. The studio, which has released beloved international classics like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, has earned its reputation.
The latest update to ChatGPT, though, will allow you to generate an image in the style of Studio Ghibli. That update has been thrilling for many users but also left some annoyed about the flood of images.
ChatGPT's latest update allows you to generate Studio Ghibli style images.
As ChatGPT continues to get more advanced, OpenAI, the company behind the technology, announced what it described as its “most advanced image generator yet." They said that the model, which is built into GPT 4.0, features a “natively multimodal model capable of precise, accurate, photorealistic outputs.”
While their update didn't say anything about Studio Ghibli, users quickly began to discover how good this new update was at replicating the style of the studio.
Suddenly, the internet was flooded with normal images that had been redone in the style of Studio Ghibli. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, even got in on the fun, replacing his X (formerly Twitter) profile picture with a Ghibli-style image.
He then posted about the flood of images, suggesting that it was only a small fraction of what AI was capable of.
“> be me / > grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever / > mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything / > wake up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘look i made you into a twink Ghibli style haha,'" he wrote.
Unfortunately, that initial flood of AI-generated images was short-lived.
The Studio Ghibli feature is only available to certain subscription levels.
After the initial flood of images, Altman announced that the incredible demand had delayed the rollout of the feature for those who use ChatGPT for free. For now, the feature is restricted to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Select subscription tiers. There are other AI models you can play around with to get these kinds of images, including Gemini or Grok, but you might have to wordsmith your prompts to get exactly what you're looking for.
Hayao Miyazaki is not into AI.
Although plenty of people have had fun aping the legendary animators signature style, the director behind these beloved films is no fan of AI.
“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," he said after witnessing a demonstration of AI-generated animation in 2016, per IndieWire. “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
Of course, the technology has evolved since then, but it's hard to imagine his opinion on it has changed. Miyazaki is many things, and set in his ways is definitely one of them.