Studio Ghibli producer says AI art trend was always going to fail

Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki says he expected 2025 AI art trend to quickly lose its appeal

Studio Ghibli producer and chairman Toshio Suzuki has explained why he declined interview requests during the 2025 wave of AI-generated artwork inspired by the animation studio, saying he expected interest in the trend to fade quickly.

The AI art trend gained widespread attention in 2025 as fans used image-generation tools to create memes, reinterpret famous scenes and produce new images in Studio Ghibli’s visual style.

Speaking to The Asahi Shimbun, Suzuki said he deliberately avoided discussing the trend at the time because he believed public interest would not last.

“At the time, I was inundated with interview requests, but I deliberately declined because I thought everyone would quickly get bored of it,” the 78-year-old producer said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”

Suzuki also discussed the limitations he sees in AI-generated animation compared with traditional hand-drawn work.

“Certain kinds of animation can also be easily created with AI, but anyone with even a little knowledge can see through it all,” he said. “It doesn’t have much meaning, and it isn’t interesting either.”

Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki has previously spoken critically about AI-generated animation. In footage recorded in 2016, Miyazaki responded to an experimental AI animation demonstration by describing what he saw as “an insult to life itself.”

“I am utterly disgusted,” Miyazaki said at the time. “If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”

According to Suzuki, Miyazaki has largely isolated himself from outside information while working since around the production of The Boy and the Heron. “Miya-san doesn’t even know about generative AI,” Suzuki said.

Suzuki added that “Ghibli will become a cultural institution that demonstrates what it means for humans to create art” in the age of AI technology. He also said Miyazaki’s artistic expression “cannot be replicated by AI or CGI.”

Miyazaki’s son Goro Miyazaki said in July that his father continues to produce illustrations and will “keep drawing until the day he dies.”