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Hayao Miyazaki Not Impressed with Your AI-Programmed Animation

“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.”

Hayao Miyazaki

A new video has been making the rounds on the internet showing the reaction of legendary filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki to a demonstration of experimental AI-created animation.

The Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke director may be ready to venture into the world of CG animation with his forthcoming Boro the Caterpillar feature, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to give up the artistry the human touch provides.

The demo, which features an animated zombie, speculates that artificial intelligence could devise “grotesque movements which we humans can’t imagine.”

Miyazaki was not impressed, delivering his condemnation of the experiment in no uncertain terms: “I am utterly disgusted,” he says in the video. “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.” As if that doesn’t hurt, he then adds, “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” Ouch.

You can watch the full takedown in the player below:

(via recode)

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.