Studio Ghibli: What is the net worth of anime empire's co-founder Hayao Miyazaki? Will ChatGPT affect it?

Images akin to Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli's style are all the craze these days. Pictures generated from OpenAI's ChatGPT mirroring the iconic anime style have flooded social media platforms. And the trend doesn't seem to be coming to an end just yet. Amid this, there has been renewed attention on Studio Ghibli, the production house that made and popularised the anime style through films and series before artificial intelligence made it so commonplace.
The studio was founded by directors Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, along with the producer Toshio Suzuki, in 1985.
Miyazaki has, in the past, denounced AI-generated anime art in strongly-worded statements. Let's take a look at Miyazaki's net worth and understand whether ChatGPT threatens that in any way.

Miyazaki's net worth
Miyazaki's estimated net worth is USD 50 million, making him one of the wealthiest persons in the field of anime art. The main source of his income is Studio Ghibli's business.
The studio earns through a variety of ways, including DVD sales, merchandise sales, and online streaming rights -- many of Studio Ghibli movies are available on platforms like Netflix.

Will ChatGPT affect Miyazaki's fortune?
It is not clear whether ChatGPT's photo generation features will have any real impact on the income of Studio Ghibli and its founders. But the trend of AI-generated anime has clearly upset the fans of the studio. Miyazaki himself has sharply criticised the act, calling it an "insult to life itself" in a 2016 interview.
Production houses like Studio Ghibli have a committed fan base and are expected to continue to thrive because of that in the near future.