Hayao Miyazaki Trashing AI 'Art' In 2016 Feels Really Prophetic Now

In 2016, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) released a documentary about Hayao Miyazaki, the director behind legendary Studio Ghibli films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

After a brief but deafening silence, Miyamoto condemned the AI animation in front of a boardroom filled with folks eagerly awaiting his response.

In the documentary, Nobuo Kawakami, then a production intern at Ghibli, showed Miyazaki and others a creepy “deep learning” AI animation of a dismembered zombie using its head to wriggle across the floor.