Hayao Miyazaki, arguably one of the pillars of animation in Japan, has been a subject of discussion lately after he expressed his disgust over an AI presentation from young Japanese animators.
Miyazaki, who is one of the founding animators of Japanese animation company Studio Ghilbi, has been touring the world giving lectures and training to budding animators.
But one instance stood out from the rest when a group of young Japanese animators presented to the 71-year-old Miyazaki a prototype of an AI animation program they are developing.
But their surprise, Miyazaki gave what the young animators did not come for to hear. Far from being satisfied, Miyazaki was too frustrated that I couldn't hide what he felt from the presented program-he was disgusted.
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," Miyazaki told the group of young animators.
The budding animators basically presented a crippled zombie that was making an unusual and creepy movement sans physiological soundness. The video, for Miyazaki, did not wish to incorporate such technologies in making animated films.
Before blurting out with disgust, Miyazaki shared that he has a friend with physical disability who would even find it hard to do simple physical movement such as high five.
"Now, thinking of him, I can't watch this stuff and think it's interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff you can go ahead and do it. [But] I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all," Miyazaki lamented.
But Miyazaki's comment drew mixed reactions among netizens who saw the video that was posted on YouTube. Some commenters felt that the veteran animator has gone overboard when he uttered those 'hurtful' comments to young animators who looked up to him with much respect.