Artists like Vincent Van Gogh leave great paintings to the world. People want them on their walls. Reproduction artists stain their own hands, put in their hours painting the exact copy, and sell it for a relatively cheaper price. Skilled artists are actually working. Fair enough.
Studio Ghibli artists create a wonderful aesthetic through animated films. People find it beautiful. Technology companies use virtually any labour and feed these beautiful artworks to train their models without consent from or financial compensation to the original artists. Tech companies have not only stolen and exploited the artists’ work of blood-sweat-and-tears, but they have also threatened to outlast and take over their creative jobs. While artists face new blank pages to create another great work, tech companies’ revenues have hit billions with four-fifths of it going to the rich few. This is not fair. Certainly not logical.
Even from the perspective of beauty and aesthetics, AI art, ever since it became a thing, to whatever point of perfection it reaches in future, cannot replicate humanity and is utterly soulless and disgusting. I find this trend the same and do not buy it. If one loves Studio Ghibli, they should watch their films, even if they are from pirated sources, but not encourage a behaviour that threatens the livelihood of the actual artists.
Picture: My attempt at copying the famous Studio Ghibli sky (Sep 2023)
First published on Facebook on 4 Apr 2025.
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