[Features reporter] Ghibli-style AI-generated portrait boom; new wave in art scene?

Kun-woo, I remember you said you've been stuck choosing your new profile picture.

What's making it such a tough decision?

Well, it's because I've been up to turning myself into all sorts of adorable animated characters using generative AI, so choosing just one has been tough.

I'm pretty sure you've seen a lot of your friends doing the same, changing their pictures to AI-generated characters, especially in the popular Ghibli style, as it's been quite the trend lately.

But before I tell you more, let's take a look at how this trend is unfolding.

Social media is buzzing with Studio Ghibli-style portraits -not of actual characters but of real people transformed using generative AI.

The global trend has also reached South Korea after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted his own version last month, showing how ChatGPT can now create intricate images with just simple prompts.

"Whenever I open social media, it's flooded with these Ghibli-style images. A lot of my friends have tried them, some even shared their wedding photos in that style."

Since the launch of the new image-generation tool in late March, over 700 million images were created, in just the first week.

"This is my original photo, and I asked to be turned into a Ghibli character—and boom, two minutes later, here I am. And it's not just this but you can also turn into characters like Pororo or Marvel heroes. No wonder it’s gone viral."

As the craze spreads, Sam Altman even joked on social media that "our GPUs are melting."

However, the trend has also had backlash.

A Japanese animation director known for "One Piece" expressed strong distaste, saying the trend is tarnishing the Ghibli brand.

And Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki previously condemned AI-generated work as "an insult to life itself" adding that he would never use it in his pieces.

Copyright concerns are also fueling the controversy.

"Art styles and aesthetics are considered ideas, so the case is hard to judge whether it's violating copyrights. The issue is whether an AI company trained its model on works in the Ghibli style."

She added that because this is a legal grey area with not much precedent, international and social consensus will be crucial moving forward.

Despite the controversy, some believe this could be a new turning point in the culture and art scene.

"The art world faces what's called "Baumol's cost disease" -rising labor costs without matching productivity. And hand-drawn animation is extremely labor-intensive. Ghibli, for example, hasn't released a new film since 2014. But AI could ease that burden and enable new creations while preserving the original identity."

She also said that with proper consensus, AI-generated art could evolve into a new cultural movement, perhaps even gaining long-term value, much like Van Gogh's paintings did posthumously.

And considering that, a tiny Ghibli-style AI portrait might just be the spark, redrawing the entire canvas of modern art.

And Kun-woo since you mentioned that AI art could be reshaping the art world, can you tell us more about that?

Of course.

What we're seeing on social media is not just limited to Ghibli-style portraits but also other artworks created by so-called "AI artists."

For those unfamiliar with them, one of the artists I spoke to explained how they create their art pieces.

"With my own philosophy, I apply several prompts and combine generated images to make them my own. That's why it isn't that different from traditional art work, just the tools that we use are different. And it's not just an image generated in one-go, it takes several attempts and a lot of trial and error."

She added that it could take hundreds of instances of "retouching" in order to create a unique artwork.

Her goal is to build a new art scene where artists collaborate with AI as their tool, instead of brushes that artists would have usually used and said it will be able to make art even more valuable.

Kun-woo, while AI-generated images are difficult to define as copyright infringement for now, I heard there are still some related cases that could lead to legal consequences.

That's right.

Recently, as AI-generated portraits have grown in popularity, some people have tried selling them or offering to create them for others on secondhand market platforms to 중고시장 플랫폼에서 판매하거나 다른 사람들을 위해 제작을 제공하여 이익을 얻으려고 시도했습니다.

One lawyer I spoke to said in such cases, it could be punishable by law.

"Although AI-generated portraits may not qualify as copyrighted work now—since they aren't considered creations that reflect human thoughts or emotions—profiting from them could still be problematic under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, as it could be seen as commercially exploiting someone else’s achievements."

So to recap, while simply creating or changing your image with AI seems fine for now, trying to make profit from it could lead to serious legal trouble.

Thank you Kun-woo.