You should see the context in which he said that. It was 2016. It was no ChatGPT he was talking about. It was some truly bizarre art that was going on back then, like a sort of humanoid form trying to learn how to walk without being given instructions... it would do disturbing things like us its head as if it was a limb and move in completely unnatural ways... that's what he, and most who watch that video, found so disturbing. But of course, taking things out of context and using a powerful sentence as if it were referring to something entirely different to make your own point is more fun.
For more context to whoever is interested, the dialogue following the quote goes like this:
Studio Ghibli producer, Suzuki: "So, what is your goal?"
ML Developer: "Well, we would like to build a machine that can draw pictures like humans do."
<jump cut>
Miyazaki VO: "I feel like we are nearing to the end of times."
"We humans are losing faith in ourselves."
Of course, the form of AI has changed over the years, but the claim that this quote could be tied to Miyazaki's general view on having machines create art is not totally baseless.
Do you think that the more refined version is somehow less of an insult to life itself? It wasn't a statement about how refined the art style is. It's about the meaning and intentionality that goes into deliberate communication, and how tools designed specifically to skip over the decision making and deliberation are removing the most important part of the result.
Look at all the AI-written and AI-illustrated articles being published this year. Look at how smooth the image slop is. Look at how fluent the text slop is. Higher quality slop doesn't change the fact that nobody could be bothered to write the thing, and nobody can be bothered to read it.
AFAIK that wasn't a general response to AI but of a very particular implementation of a procedural animation system shown to him by some (IIRC) students for the movement of a disabled person and he found it distasteful as it reminded him of someone he knows who is disabled and had issues moving.
He's right that to someone who's art is about capturing the world through a child's eyes, the dreamlike consonance of everyday life with simple fantasy, this is abominable.
He didn't say this about AI generally as far as I know. He was shown some kid's art project using an earlier AI and it just looked extremely uncanny in the way that is typical of bad generative art.
So that's definitely a misquote, though I wouldn't be surprised if Miyazaki dislikes AI.
brabel|6 months ago
exdeejay_|6 months ago
Of course, the form of AI has changed over the years, but the claim that this quote could be tied to Miyazaki's general view on having machines create art is not totally baseless.
petralithic|6 months ago
bee_rider|6 months ago
myhf|6 months ago
Look at all the AI-written and AI-illustrated articles being published this year. Look at how smooth the image slop is. Look at how fluent the text slop is. Higher quality slop doesn't change the fact that nobody could be bothered to write the thing, and nobody can be bothered to read it.
antegamisou|6 months ago
As if it's in any way less horrifying having the entire Internet infested with AI slop.
TeMPOraL|6 months ago
Wish some of the AI detectors realized when they're doing a worse job reasoning than the LLMs they criticize.
badsectoracula|6 months ago
The quote was taken a little bit out of context.
the_af|6 months ago
Regardless of how you feel about AI, the specific instance Miyazaki was reacting to was, indeed, an insult to life itself!
frozenseven|6 months ago
merksoftworks|6 months ago
He's right that to someone who's art is about capturing the world through a child's eyes, the dreamlike consonance of everyday life with simple fantasy, this is abominable.
senko|6 months ago
indoordin0saur|6 months ago
So that's definitely a misquote, though I wouldn't be surprised if Miyazaki dislikes AI.
unknown|6 months ago
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randcraw|6 months ago
perching_aix|6 months ago
[deleted]
Kuinox|6 months ago
The author is also changing the subject of the quote.
He said it reminded him of a disabled friend that this technology was an insult to life itself.