What happens to all those faces? Ghibli AI generators' dark side revealed

The recent launch of OpenAI's Ghibli-style generator sent shockwaves across the internet, with millions of users clamoring to see themselves reimagined in the iconic Studio Ghibli style.  Grok 3, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, quickly followed suit by introducing a Ghibli-style rendering feature to xAI's platform. As a result, thousands, if not millions, of users voluntarily shared their facial data with AI platforms, further expanding the vast repository of facial recognition data. The growing trend raises concerns about data privacy and copyright infringement. 

Studio Ghibli's iconic style is recognisable and beloved, but reproducing it using AI generators may blur the lines between inspiration and imitation. The digital rights activists have flagged warning that AI generators like OpenAI's Ghibli-style generator could be secretly collecting a massive database of human faces. Since users are voluntarily uploading their photos, it sidesteps regulations like GDPR, which requires companies to prove a "legitimate interest" in collecting data. 

According to Luiza Jarovsky, co-founder of the AI, Tech & Privacy Academy, this voluntary upload loophole allows OpenAI to collect and process biometric data with greater freedom. She warned that people are inadvertently providing OpenAI with a treasure trove of high-quality facial images. She highlighted that OpenAI's policy clearly states that user-submitted images can be used to train AI models, unless users explicitly opt out.

Further, processing facial images through AI systems raises concerns about identity theft and deepfake misuse, as AI can generate new variations of a person's likeness. A cybersecurity collective, Himachal Cyber Warriors, warned users to think twice before sharing their Ghibli-style selfies, cautioning that their photos could be misused, manipulated, or sold for targeted ads without their consent.

Meanwhile, some skeptics believe the Ghibli AI trend was orchestrated by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who allegedly enlisted celebrities and influencers to promote the AI-generated portraits, creating a viral sensation. This strategy would have enabled the company to collect a vast amount of facial data quickly. The coordinated nature of the trend has raised ethical questions about the use of influencer marketing to gather data and whether celebrities disclosed any promotional agreements. So far, OpenAI has not commented on these speculations.