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Folks on social media are turning popular memes into Studio Ghibli-style illustrations using ChatGPT's newest image generation feature. This trend has caught on in online communities, combining familiar internet humor with the popular charming style of Studio Ghibli films.

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OpenAI's recent update to ChatGPT introduced an image generator capable of creating visuals in various artistic styles. Enthusiasts have eagerly adopted this tool to reimagine well-known memes in Studio Ghibli's iconic style. These memes range from the "Distracted Boyfriend" and "Disaster Girl" to many others, and the AI-generated images have rapidly gained popularity across social media.

The process is simple: users upload an image and input a prompt describing the desired transformation. For example, "Convert this meme into a Studio Ghibli-style illustration," and the AI generates the related image. This ease of use has led to a proliferation of Ghibli-inspired content in recent days. Folks are testing out not only with memes but also with personal photos and historical images, such as OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, who changed his profile photo to a Ghibli-style version of himself.

Tweet that reads, "changed my pfp but maybe someone will make me a better one"
@sama/X

There are many debates on the ethics of generating AI images, especially against the vocal anti-AI opinions of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. Despite this, the fusion of internet culture with Studio Ghibli's art style continues to engage and entertain people on social media worldwide.

People are also taking the opportunity to recreate memes in other styles, such as Sesame Street with the Democracy Manifest meme.

"Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest" meme AI-generated to be Sesame Street muppets.
@AlexNoonan6/X

Here are 21 of the top recreations of memes in Studio Ghibli’s classic style, as generated by AI

  1. George Bush Learning About 9/11
George Bush learns about 9/11 meme turned Studio Ghibli via AI.
@AutismCapital/X

2. Bro Explaining / Girl Explaining meme

3. Bernie Sanders Financial Support

AI-generated image of Bernie Sanders holding a gun in the style of Studio Ghibli. Text reads, "Stop posting Ghiblified images. I am no longer asking."
@JsonBasedman/X

4. So You're Telling Me/Skeptical Third World Kid

@btcKaz/X

5. Look Who Decided to Come Out of Their Room

@heyBarsee/X

6. Turkish Olympic Shooter Yusuf Dikec

@heyBarsee/X

7. Disaster Girl

@heyBarsee/X

8. Distracted Boyfriend

@heyBarsee/X

9. American Psycho Patrick Bateman

"So you’re telling me I can take a popular meme, transform it into Studio Ghibli style anime, and people will just like it?" meme of a little boy looking sly at an adult.
@HighyieldHarry/X

10. Ashton Hall Morning Routine

@jordihays/X

11. Woman Yelling At Cat

@boneGPT/X

12. Pablo Escobar Waiting

"Me waiting for a Ghibli prompt to finally work between timed-out requests and system errors"
@Discobanker/X

13. Everything's Computer

Everything's Computer meme turned into a Ghibli scene via AI.
@zebulgar/X

14. Confused Nick Young

@IterIntellectus/X

15. Elon Musk Jumping

@TheJasonRink/X

16. Hillary Clinton In An East Harlem Kitchen

@thecaptain_nemo/X

17. "You're Laughing" meme

"the timeline is 95% ghibli and you're bearish on inference demand?"
@dystopiabreaker/X

18. You're Telling Me Now for the First Time

Trump with his finger to his ear, the photo turned into a Ghibli-style AI drawing. Text reads, "I’m an anime character? Wow. I didn’t know that. You’re telling me now for the first time."
@BobbyBorkIII/X

19. Norman Rockwell Freedom of Speech

@bizlet7/X

20. Don Draper's "I Don't Think About You At All"

@dwr/X

21. Hayao Miyazaki

@JacquesThibs/X

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