The style of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese anime studio whose works include Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, can now be replicated by artificial intelligence. Photo / Studio Ghibli-GKIDS
Questions are being raised about whether creatives will be the first professions affected by the advancement of artificial intelligence.
AI has dominated debates in the business world for the past few years.
Now, the latest OpenAI update is so advanced that fans online have used it to eerily replicate the hand-drawn art style of Studio Ghibli, a favourite Japanese anime studio.
When the 4o Image Generation was launched, the company said: “From the first cave paintings to modern infographics, humans have used visual imagery to communicate, persuade, and analyse – not just to decorate.”
University of Sydney Business School associate professor Sandra Peter told The Front Page the update means users can create convincing images, including those in the Studio Ghibli style.
“They’ve moved from traditional, what we call ‘diffusion models’, where you have models that gradually refine noisy data into something called ‘autoregressive algorithms’, and no one wants to go into details of that... All you need to know about it is that it basically treats images like language.
“So ChatGPT now predicts words in a sentence, but it can now also predict visual elements in an image. This means that you can basically use all the things that ChatGPT has learned about Ghibli-style – the fact it has things like soft pastels, it’s a Japanese animation, and so on – and it can use those to more accurately create these images from precise prompts that people give it,” she said.
Peter said, traditionally, copyright laws don’t protect a “style”.
“Only specific expressions because we don’t wanna stifle creative expression, right? If you could copyright things like impressionism, that would limit what people can do,” she said.
And it’s not just artists who are worried about AI’s advancement.
The fashion industry is one of those affected by the introduction of AI, and some have called for regulation to protect models so brands don’t create AI-generated replicas without their consent.
Model Alliance founder and executive director Sarah Ziff told Al Jazeera she’s worried.
“When your body is your business, having your image manipulated and sold off without your permission is a violation of your rights,” she said.
Last month, fashion giant H&M announced plans to use AI clones of its human models.
It’s planning to create 30 “digital twins” of its models, who would then own the rights to their “digital twin”.
Peter said there needs to be better regulation in this space.
“First, it’ll be down to companies to figure out how they want to use these technologies ethically. Technology always evolves faster than the law.
“I think it’s really important for leaders in this space to upskill themselves around artificial intelligence, to understand what the ethical challenges are, what the practical challenges are, but also what some of the huge opportunities are and to make informed choices about what they do in their organisations,” she said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how AI is adapting and how it might change how we work.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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