All about the “Ghibli” trend!

All about the “Ghibli” trend!

Kristi Flora Karki

If you have been on social media lately, you must have come across people sharing their Ghibli images on their social media handles.

This trend started since Open AI introduced image generation in Chat GPT, enabling users to create visuals directly within the app using its advanced tools and reasoning model, GPT-4o.

The GPT-4o’s image generation not only creates accurate Ghibli illustrations as described by the users but is also free for use. Users can transform uploaded images or use it to take inspiration for their art creation.

     Ghibli word came from a Tokyo based animation art studio viz, Studio Ghibli founded in 1985. Over the years, it registered a strong presence in the animation industry and has expanded its portfolio to include various media such as short films, television commercials and television films.

Ghibli type animation has suddenly started trendingwhen Open AI CEO Sam Altman swapped his profile picture for a Ghibli style rendition. Soon the little trend transformed into a social media phenomenon, with users sharing Ghibli style illustrations of their childhood photos, memes, classic movie scenes, selfies etc.

RelatedPosts

Blue Origin’s All-Female Spaceflight: A Historic Win for Women or a Luxury Trip for the Rich?

April 23, 2025

How can Artificial Intelligence prevent Climate Change?

April 22, 2025

Climate Emergency: 2025 Declared International Year of Glaciers

April 22, 2025

The trend became popular in just a few days after its arrival for which, people couldn’t stop posting their Ghibli illustrations on their social handles. The results were dream like landscapes, soft water colour style visuals which impressed every one and just like that AI generated images sky-rocketed.

Many well-known personalities also took part in the trend. The Union government released a series of Studio Ghibli portraits of Narendra Modi, as the Prime Minister joined the viral trend just like Swiggy hopped into the trend by giving comments like “ChatGPT cooked” while sharing some Ghibli illustrations.

People loved the trend and supported whole heartedly. Open AI highlighted on the motive of this update “we aim to maximize creative freedom by supporting valuable use cases like game development, historical exploration and education”.

In the past, creating art like that of Studio Ghibli needed incredible skills and hours of hard work, now with the advent of AI tools like ChatGPT artists can create their own Ghibli inspired portrait.

                 But soon this captivating trend took a turn as a video of Hayao Miyazaki (Co-Founder of Studio Ghibli)known for masterpieces such as “Spirited Away” and “My neighbours Totoro”, mentioned that AI would not understand the real feelings of humans adding “it was an insult to life itself”. He stated further that he will never incorporate this technology into his work at all.

A large section of the population around the globe who were deeply connected with the studio Ghibli movies and Anime supported Miyazaki’s perception on AI, they believe that people like Miyazaki devoted their lives to Ghibli with a purpose to connect people with nature, to let people experience the fantasy world through their art form. Some also said “nothing makes sense anymore” meaning people’s efforts, emotions, hard work means nothing these days.

 Situations like this has happened in the past as well in different fields with the advancement of technology, for example, in case of  media,  print media and broadcast were the only form of available media but with the advent of technology it has changed drastically and everything has been digitalized. This new media helps people to get information from around the globein just a fraction of a second, it also helps to generate a greater reach of audience.

     In recent times, technology has been developing in a rapid pace bringing various new applications to benefit the users, but with every new change something old gets replaced and it will definitely bring out disapproval from certain section of the population.

      We must keep in mind that technology exists to aid and enhance human resource rather than completely replacing it. Also, with the course of time technology will bring more of such advancements for the benefit of its users, and with this, we all must learn to adapt to the new ways of doing things too,as we all know that “change is the only constant!”.

02-04-2025

Kristi Flora Karki is a student of Mass Communication & Journalism, Gauhati University

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com(For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary) Images from different sources.