Social media is now full of images that look like scenes from Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. People are sharing artwork that has the unique hand-drawn and watercolor style of Studio Ghibli. But what started this trend?
How Did the Ghibli Art Trend Start?
OpenAI’s Latest Update Surprises Users
On Tuesday, OpenAI launched a new image-generation tool as part of GPT-4o. This tool can create highly detailed and stylized images. People quickly discovered that it could perfectly copy the Studio Ghibli aesthetic. The ability to recreate the legendary art style of Hayao Miyazaki made the tool go viral.
Social Media Users Join the Fun
Soon after the tool was released, users began testing its limits. They asked the AI to generate different types of Ghibli-style images, including:
- Selfies
- Pets
- Fictional characters
- Everyday objects like coffee cups and bicycles
- Pop culture moments featuring celebrities and historical figures
People shared their creations on Instagram, X (Twitter), and Reddit using hashtags like #GhibliStyle and #AIGhibli. The trend spread quickly, with thousands of users participating.
OpenAI CEO Joins the Trend
Sam Altman’s Reaction to the Viral Craze
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined in. On Wednesday, he joked on X:
“Be me. Grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever, mostly no one cares for the first 7.5 years, and then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything. Wake up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘Look, I made you into a twink Ghibli style haha.'”
Altman even changed his profile picture to an AI-generated Ghibli-style version of himself, proving how popular the trend has become.
ChatGPT-4o Image Generation: A New Era for AI Art
How the AI Tool Works
The new ChatGPT-4o update allows users to generate images directly inside ChatGPT. This feature, called “Images in ChatGPT,” is available to all users, but free-tier users face some restrictions due to high demand.
Some Technical Issues at Launch
The rollout has not been perfect. OpenAI had to delay access for free users and fix a strange bug where the AI could generate images of “sexy men” but not “sexy women.”
Despite these small issues, the new model brings major improvements in:
- Image accuracy
- Text rendering
- Object relationships
Unlike OpenAI’s older DALL-E model, which creates images all at once, GPT-4o generates images piece by piece, making them more detailed and realistic.
AI and Art Are Changing the Internet
OpenAI‘s image-generation tool has set off a new artistic trend that is taking over social media. The ability to create Ghibli-style artwork with just a text prompt has fascinated users worldwide. As AI technology improves, we can expect even more creative and viral trends in the future.
