Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki’s old ‘Utterly Disgusted’ video goes viral, says ‘I would never wish to….’

A recent wave of AI-generated images in Studio Ghibli style has taken over social media, with thousands of users generating whimsical and painterly visuals using OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also joined the trend by updating his profile picture to an AI-generated Ghibli-style avatar. As the AI-driven trend gained momentum, an old video of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki resurfaced online. In the clip, Miyazaki criticizes AI-generated animation, calling it “an insult to life itself.”

The video, originally recorded during a meeting at Studio Ghibli, features Miyazaki reacting to an AI-generated animation presented to him and producer Toshio Suzuki. The animation depicted a zombie-like figure moving in an unnatural way. The AI development team presenting the clip explained that artificial intelligence could create movements that would not be possible for humans to conceive.
One of the presenters explained (translated from Japanese), "It looks like it's dancing. It's moving by using its head. It doesn't feel any pain and has no concept of protecting its head. It uses its head like a leg. This movement is so creepy and could be applied to a zombie video game. Artificial intelligence could present us with grotesque movements that we humans can't imagine."
Watch the viral clip here:

Miyazaki did not share their enthusiasm. Instead of praising the AI's capabilities, he reacted with visible discomfort.
He compared the AI-generated movements to the struggles of a disabled friend, saying, "I can't watch this stuff and find [it] 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."
He concluded with the statement: "I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
Following Miyazaki’s response, one of the AI developers defended their experiment, stating, "This is just our experiment and we don't intend to do anything by showing it to the world." Suzuki, the producer, also questioned the team about their ultimate goal. The developers explained that their aim was to build a machine capable of drawing pictures like humans.