OpenAI’s Ghibli-style picture generation and copyright law

• The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) account on X shared images reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s style, prompted by OpenAI’s late March update to the GPT4o model.

• Users used ChatGPT to generate images imitating Studio Ghibli’s iconic animation style.

• Users created anime stills from photos of 9/11 terror attacks, assassination of John F. Kennedy, and even reimagined Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar as a Studio Ghibli film.

• One AI anime image depicted the destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 by Hindutva rioters, rendered in a distorted Studio Ghibli style.

• Another viral image was shared by the U.S. White House, mocking a foreign citizen accused of drug trafficking.

• The IDF account on X also shared anime images of soldiers using communication devices and flying planes.

• Professor David Leslie, Director of Ethics and Responsible Innovation Research at The Alan Turing Institute, highlighted the ethical concerns surrounding the misappropriation of a man’s life work.

• OpenAI championed the fair use defence, which allows copyrighted works to be used in specific circumstances.

• Leslie urged the public to consider a broader perspective beyond fair use regulations.

Legal Intricacies of Copyright and AI in Art

• Geoffrey McGovern, Director of Intellectual Property and Senior Political Scientist at RAND, explains that copyright protection is not applicable to concepts and ideas.

• The ‘Cubist style’ is an idea, not a product or work, which is protected only once those ideas are manifested in some form.

• The Studio Ghibli style is not copyrightable, and the ChatGPT-generated image does not constitute a copyright violation.

• Tori Noble, Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes that U.S. courts have yet to determine if AI models that generate images in an artist’s “style” are considered to be violating copyright.

• The case of Andersen versus Stability AI Ltd. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is ongoing, involving the determination of whether the models’ output infringed upon protectable creative expression and whether using works to develop AI image generators constitutes fair use.

• The Glassworker, a 2024 fantasy film directed by Usman Riaz, is an example of art inspired by Studio Ghibli that was created without using AI.

• The U.S. does not safeguard the “moral rights” of creators to control how their work is used or adapted, resulting in Studio Ghibli films not entitled to these limited moral rights.

• Artists are now contemplating their next steps in response to concerns about their work being illegally stolen or scraped to train AI models.

• Social and labour policies could be more effective avenues for countries to protect artists and creators from the economic harm caused by AI.