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One Piece anime director Henry Thurlow offers the perfect takedown of people using Gen AI to recreate Studio Ghibli's art: "It's akin to trolling"

"If you don’t have the time to dedicate to becoming an amazing chef, you don’t deserve a Michelin star," is exactly how people should respond to to the use of AI to create art

One Piece Monkey D Luffy Smiling — Image credit: Toei Animation

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Mon Mar 31 2025

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The use of AI in art is something that we’re consistently tired of hearing about, simply because there is no real argument in its favor. As people around the world used OpenAI’s generative AI software to generate images that mimicked Studio Ghibli’s iconic art style, fans rightly reminded them that Hayao Miyazaki has been vocal about his distaste for the technology, claiming it is an “insult to life itself.” However, Henry Thurlow, who was the first non-Japanese episode director for the One Piece anime, had equally harsh words for those sharing the images.

The images in question, which we're not going to link to for obvious reasons, use OpenAI's generative AI technology to produce images that (poorly) imitate Studio Ghibli's work. On social media, Thurlow reacted to the current trend, which uses OpenAI software to recreate well-known memes in Studio Ghibli’s art style. “I’m not sure what exactly these folks making AI Ghibli images even think they’re accomplishing, beyond offending and upsetting the original artists (which you’d assume they’re fans of). I mean, you can’t (and will never) make profitable movies [with] this stuff. It’s akin to trolling.”

“You can’t ‘democratize’ being a good artist or director the same way you can’t democratize becoming an Olympic athlete,” Thurlow explained, adding, “If you don’t have the time to dedicate to becoming an amazing chef, you don’t deserve a Michelin star. If you don’t have the time to dedicate to acting, you don’t deserve an Oscar. And if you don’t have the time to dedicate to animation/art, then stay the fuck out of my industry.”

Honestly, this is the perfect response to people sharing the AI-generated images of Studio Ghibli’s work. Even if you ignore the massive environmental impact that Gen AI has and the brazen theft of people’s art to power said technology, it still misses the point that the struggle to develop the skills to create something is part of the point of art. If you aren’t willing to put in the effort to hone the skills necessary to make art, don’t expect people to appreciate the slop you churn out using someone else’s work.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included...