Fans of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio behind “Spirited Away” and other beloved movies, were delighted this week when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki.

Social media is flooded with images imitating Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli, whose co-founder once called AI-generated art an “insult to life itself.”

AI-based image generators have been available for a couple of years, with many companies offering free options. However, text-to-image generators have suddenly come into the limelight, since the introduction of ChatGPT's native image generation capabilities,