Japanese Government Debates Legality of Images Created With 'Ghibli Effect'

The beginning of April was marked by the popularity of the so-called ‘Ghibli effect’, which led ChatGPT users to resort to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to transform their photographs into the characteristic style of the Japanese animation studio.

Now, the Dexerto website says that the issue has reached the Japanese government and that there is, indeed, a risk that the creation of these images is illegal.

The issue was reportedly raised last week during a session of Japan's House of Representatives by one of its members, Masato Imai, before the chief strategy officer of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Hirohiko Nakahara.

“There has been talk about whether so-called ‘Ghiblification,’ that is, transforming images into the Ghibli style, constitutes copyright infringement. Given the current interpretation of the law, how legal is it?” Imai asked. “Ultimately, that’s something the courts will have to decide. If it’s just a matter of style and ideals being similar, then it wouldn’t be considered copyright infringement. If it’s determined that AI-generated content is similar to or dependent on existing copyrighted works, then there’s a possibility that it could constitute copyright infringement,” Nakahara replied.

It is therefore not yet clear whether the creation of these images is considered illegal. However, if it is proven that the company responsible for ChatGPT, OpenAI, trained its AI models with works by Studio Ghibli without proper authorization, there will likely be grounds for considering the creation of these images illegal.