Style is not aesthetics. Style is substance. It grows out of thoughts, experiences, and labor. You can’t take work out of art—what you get is an empty shell. The generated result may resemble something real, but it bypasses the labor, and says nothing, adds nothing. The process is the thing.

I’ve struggled so much as an artist, and often felt like things could’ve been automated, but then I’d come to a completely unexpected decision, often while doing seemingly mindless portions of the work, like coloring and inking. Why would you deprive yourself of that?

To quote Kandinsky, “To all outward appearances, the movements of apes are exactly like those of human beings. The ape will sit holding a book in front of its nose, leafing through with a thoughtful expression on its face, but the inner meaning of these gestures is completely lacking.“

I know complaining about Ai art is pretty cringey, and a hopeless battle, but something about Chat GPT picking Miyazaki as a target, of all people, just shows that these people have completely lost touch with humanity.