By Cole Gee | Staff Writer
Social media was ablaze after Open AI introduced the new GPT-4o, which allows users to use the AI to generate images. Sam Altman, Open AI CEO, said they were receiving so many new users that the “company’s servers were melting.”
This could be traced back to the popular Studio Ghibli trend, where users used the image generator to turn selfies, memes or art into the famous anime style of Hayao Miyazaki.
In the past, Miyazaki has made his thoughts on AI animation clear. Back in 2016 he was able to view an early demo of an AI generated video. When asked his thoughts on the emerging technology he stated his disapproval.
“Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever,” Miyazaki said. “I am utterly disgusted … I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
While plenty of people were using the generator for fun, other figureheads in the animation community shared this same sentiment, believing that AI is beginning to replace or trivialize the toils of hard-working animators. Other animators and artists argue that this is the next natural step in the evolution of art in the 21st century.
Baylor graphic design professor Genaro Rivero has been working in the field for over a decade and has been teaching at Baylor since 2023. On the topic of AI, he is a lot more open to emerging technology and puts emphasis on teaching his students how to properly utilize it.
“This is what I tell them — AI is not gonna take your job, alright? First and foremost,” Rivero said. “But the designers that are embracing AI, using AI and educating themselves in this new technology will take their jobs. Why? Because AI makes everything faster. It makes the things that we as designers don’t want to do.”
Rivero also argues that AI is just the latest notch in a long line of emerging technologies that have convinced artists that they’d be replaced. Just like how people thought the camera was replacing landscape painters, or that the printing press would make art too accessible to the public. Even now in modern times digital tablets and computers allow people to draw art without a pencil or paintbrush. As technology improves the way people create and consume, art will also change.
“Now, going back to art and art history, the apprentice used to do painting and then the master came in and signed it,” Rivero said. “So what will be the difference now if you are just using another tool or if you paint digitally?”
Still, Rivero emphasizes the ethics that need to be upheld by those who use the technology. The ethic of the technology is called into question regarding art styles and credit. Many animators and artists have called out Open AI for allegedly scalping their work to train their AI algorithms. Recently, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against Open AI for improper use of their content.
Recent court cases have labeled AI art as “uncopyrightable.” On March 18, 2025, a court panel ruled that there needs to be a legitimate “human authorship” to support a copyright claim.
“AI cannot process the ‘what ifs’ or ‘how might we,’ meaning the technology is not good with curiosity,” Rivero said. “That is where our advantage is, and artists or designers should not be worried. We control the story, and as long as we stay curious and explore different ideas, AI will not harm our creative process.”
Despite the arguments against emerging technology, some animators still believe AI can be used in resourceful and ethical ways. Sage Hansen is a professional 3-D animator and YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers. When he first studied animation back in 2009 at Texas A&M, he never could imagine what AI was capable of. However, now he and many other designers are trying to adjust to the new technology.
“So I think AI right now, we see it and we think of it as cheating, but I think over time artists will get better with it and it’ll just be another tool,” Hansen said. “But it’ll never fully replace artists. I don’t think that’ll ever happen.”
Hansen believes that AI could be used to remove the filler in the animation process. Depending on the animated scene, it may take up to 11 months just to animate two minutes. So if this technology can help save them time and energy, then it’s certainly worth exploring, he said.
“It’s so many moving pieces, and it’s frame by frame, and AI can probably get that shot done quicker so that artists can maybe move on to spend more time in other areas,” Hansen said. “We all have limited time. Time is money. We need to be able to make things a little bit quicker. And I think overall, artists are okay with making things quicker.”
