Studio Ghibli co-founder and animator Hayao Miyazaki has slammed AI generation animation, calling it “an insult to life itself”.
Miyazaki said the comments during his response to an AI-generated demonstration by Studio Ghibli’s producer-in-training and head of CGI at Dwango Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Nobuo Kawakami. Miyazaki was far from impressed with the AI technology, saying he would “never wish to incorporate [it] into my work at all.”
In the animation, humanoid characters were seen grotesquely distorting themselves.
“This is the result of teaching it to ‘move faster,'” Kawakami said. “Basically there’s nothing like sensitivity to pain, and it lacks the concept of the head being important, so it’s using the head like a foot for movement.”
“This movement is so creepy and could be applied to zombie video games. An artificial intelligence could present us grotesque movements which we humans can’t imagine.”
Reflecting on his experiences with a disabled friend who was unable to perform even simple movemnts such as high five, Miyazaki said, “Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and think it’s interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. 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.”
Kawakami responded by saying that it was “just an experiment, so it’s not like this is something that was going to be presented to the world.”
A member of the team added that they hope to make a machine one day “that can draw like humans do.”
Footage showing Miyazaki’s reaction appeared in a documentary called “NHK Special: Hayao Miyazaki – The One Who Never Ends” on Japan’s NHK channel.
“I feel like we are nearing to the end of times,” Miyazaki said. “We humans are losing faith in ourselves.”
Last month, the Spirited Away creator announced he would be coming out of retirement to make one last movie.
