Beyond the Ghibli Drama: - The Art of Pause: Navigating AI Trends Without Losing Perspective
Original article on : https://itsartm.ag/4ckjXvm
I hesitated before writing this, aware of how easily words can be misunderstood or distorted, making it appear as though I'm unequivocally supporting or opposing something without nuance. To avoid misunderstanding, please let me clearly say: IAMAG does not support or feature AI-generated images at our events. Here, I won’t revisit legal or moral debates but instead focus on examining this phenomenon from a sociological perspective.
AI undeniably forms part of our current reality and isn't disappearing. We must approach it thoughtfully, avoiding the traps of transient hype and trends.
The "Ghibli" drama exploded online recently, leaving me wondering why it felt so familiar. Digging into IAMAG archives reminded me that exactly one year ago, during IAMC in Paris, Mateusz Urbanowicz presented a talk titled "What Does Making Good Art Even Mean?" featuring a website that transformed photos into a "Ghibli-style" aesthetic—yes, this was one year ago.
Screenshot from IAMC24 Talk - What Does Making Good Art Even Mean? by Mateusz Urbanowicz
This technology, known as style transfer, is hardly new. Upon further investigation, I found several older services and even free, open-source projects from over two years ago offering similar capabilities.
Screenshot from a 2-year-old open source model on Hugging Face
What’s new here? Essentially, it's rebranding existing style-transfer technology with the buzzword "AI," sparking widespread frenzy. Artists express outrage when seeing images using this style; social media becomes flooded with endless posts; communities quickly ban users sharing these images; and even a fake cease-and-desist letter claiming to be from Studio Ghibli goes viral. Marketers cleverly exploit this controversy, criticizing the trend while promoting their products.
Fake Ghibli Cease and Desist Letter
The whole spectacle recalls Charles Mackay's Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Interestingly, I referenced Mackay’s work previously during the early NFT craze—history repeats itself.
I genuinely wish people would pause and critically analyze situations before joining such frenzies.
This trend itself isn't groundbreaking; it gained momentum primarily due to ChatGPT’s new image-generation feature, which is essentially copying established style-transfer technology rather than innovating. The rapid spread of these styled images highlights widespread acceptance of ChatGPT’s integration, even if reluctantly acknowledged by many.
We might be witnessing a pivotal moment similar to Google's entry into the market, when it overtook Yahoo and other search engines. Google rose to prominence by scraping web data without explicit permission, offering free search services (like GPT’s free tier), and monetizing via advertisements without sharing revenues with original content creators.
Though not identical, Google's approach and what we see today share foundational similarities, aside from the underlying technologies involved.
This may initially seem unrelated to the core issue—how internet trends spark exaggerated reactions and internal conflicts within communities. Yet, it illustrates how easily communities can be manipulated to generate attention and expand audience reach.
Ultimately, OpenAI successfully garnered immense attention—both positive and negative—fueling countless articles and attracting new users who reacted emotionally rather than thoughtfully evaluating the situation.
Such incidents will undoubtedly recur, teaching valuable lessons to businesses. Unfortunately, emotional reactions continue driving people into increasingly isolated groups, narrowing their global perspective.
If you’re an artist trying to understand our evolving world, resist emotional manipulation genuinely. Avoid excluding others solely because they hold differing views. You can only produce authentic art, images, and films beyond AI’s replication capabilities by maintaining a comprehensive understanding of the world. Break free from predictable patterns—forge your unique creative path.
Commented on The sea has always inspired me, its s...
31 Mar 10:58
Lovely mood and palette with such nice transparency/light management