ChatGPT's Ghibli memes have become so politicized that the term 'ghiblifying' has even been coined.



This article, originally posted in Japanese on 12:15 Mar 31, 2025, may contains some machine-translated parts.
If you would like to suggest a corrected translation, please click here.

The image generation function of GPT-4o, which became available to some ChatGPT users, has created an Internet meme that makes various images and photos look like Studio Ghibli. This trend has long sparked ethical debate over copyright issues , but the US government's bad luck has suddenly made it political, argued The Verge, an IT news site.

ChatGPT's Ghibli filter is political now, but it always was | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/tech/638603/studio-ghibli-chatgpt-ai-filter-white-house-meme

On March 28, 2025, the White House posted a photo on X (formerly Twitter) of an illegal immigrant woman who had been arrested as a drug trafficker. The post was accompanied by an anime-style AI-generated image depicting the woman crying while handcuffed, a clear reference to ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli-style memes.



The Verge has contacted OpenAI and the White House, but has not received a response at the time of writing, so it is unclear whether the image was created with ChatGPT.

However, given that the Trump administration has strongly supported the Stargate Project , which OpenAI is also a participant of, and that Elon Musk, the owner of X, serves as a senior adviser to the president, 'this is essentially a bizarre product ad by a company with deep ties to President Trump,' The Verge said.

Previously, Silicon Valley companies that were in fierce opposition to Trump would likely have kept their distance from such government posts, but OpenAI has not made its stance clear regarding the White House posts mentioned above. Since the Trump administration took office, it has become difficult for companies to state, 'We respect freedom of expression, but this government post does not reflect our values,' and given the risks associated with antagonizing the president, silence is the most rational choice.

The Verge also pointed out that a public institution's use of AI-generated images, and in particular its adoption of the Ghibli-style filter, symbolizes 'the Trump-era indifference to others.' It added, 'The White House's post is a political stunt. The government's public humiliation of low-level immigrant detainees is not good governance, effective public relations, or morally right. The irony is that the warm Ghibli-style visuals actually undermine this cruel message.'

The Verge said 'it weakens the message' in response to the following post about the White House's post: 'By ghiblifying this woman, the White House has inadvertently made a fentanyl dealer, a former felon who was deported, sympathetic,' Mike Solana, editor-in-chief of the news site Pirate Wires, said in a repost of the White House's post.



The term 'ghiblifying' is a combination of 'ghibli' and '-fy.' The AI community has been using generative AI to generate Ghibli-style images for some time, but since the popularity of GPT-4o image generation, the term 'Ghibli-izing' has become more commonly used in mainstream media such as The Washington Post .

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also jumped on the Ghibli trend by changing his profile picture on X to a Ghibli-inspired image of himself, and has posted amused comments about the flood of Ghibli-inspired images he has been receiving.



Regarding these movements, The Verge said, 'As the Tesla takedown protests showed, associating business with harmful politics can be counterproductive. While many people use ChatGPT to create cute images of their family and friends, it is sad that OpenAI's tacit approval of the White House's posts has also turned the technology into a tool for the powerful to attack the weak. Do OpenAI researchers think this contributes to the idea of 'using AI for good'? And where will Silicon Valley companies draw their ethical lines in the race?' he asked.

Related Posts:

in Software,   , Posted by log1l_ks