One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda explored the possibilities of AI technology this holiday season.
In the video shared on Twitter, Oda ran a sketch of antagonist Rob Lucci through an AI drawing app, re-imagining the character with a variety of filters. Settling on a tiny, chibi iteration of the CP0 agent, Oda sketched the AI-constructed character into a scene with series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, who appeared shocked by his enemy’s new appearance. Oda took the AI Lucci a step further, rendering the character in a white sun hat coated in flowers, seemingly poking fun at just how drastic the technology’s changes to the bloodthirsty government killer’s look could become.
While Oda’s video seems to be made in jest, AI art has been a controversial topic in the entertainment industry. Guillermo Del Toro, whose recent Pinocchio adaption was created with intricate stop-motion, called AI-generated art “an insult to life itself,” echoing the words of acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The Studio Ghibli co-founder made these comments after viewing a computer-generated zombie in the 2016 documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, which he labeled “entirely insincere” as he bemoaned humans for comparing AI art to the art they make themselves.
The AI Art Controversy
A host of artists and editors in the comic book industry have also opposed the use of AI images in their medium, while Kickstarter recently banned a project forwarding an AI technology that “allows for anyone to make art.” Even the United States government questioned whether AI art qualifies as intellectual property when the United States Copyright Office (USCO) revoked the copyright of an AI comic book.
Regardless of the criticism leveled at AI art, AI remains popular in anime fan communities. It is unclear whether Oda’s use of it in this video is a critique of AI art’s newfound prominence, or whether he’s simply having fun with it, but the conversation around this fast-developing technology rages on in the video’s comment section. While some fans defended the One Piece creator’s right to enjoy himself, others complained about him using the technology in the first place, highlighting just how contentious the topic of AI art remains.
The One Piece manga is distributed in North America by VIZ Media and will return from hiatus in January 2023.
Source: Twitter
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