A new trend has taken over social media during the past week: using ChatGPT to turn real-life photos into dreamy, animated scenes that look like they’re straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. Influencers on the French Riviera have jumped on the trend, transforming – or Ghibli-fying – their tourism pictures and videos into the Japanese studio’s soft, whimsical style.
What is Ghibli-style? And how can I Ghibli-fy my photos?
Ghibli is of course the Tokyo-based animation studio that has created films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.
The tool behind the trend is called DALL·E (pronounced like the artist Dalí), developed by OpenAI – the same team that created ChatGPT. In late March 2025, OpenAI made it super easy to use by building it right into ChatGPT. Now, anyone can upload a photo (or even describe an image) and ask for it to be turned into a Studio Ghibli-style scene in just seconds. (All you need to say is “Please Ghibli-fy this pic.”) Politicians, fashion designers, tourism boards and Riviera Edition (!) have flocked to ChatGPT to try it out. Here’s one of our Carlton Hotel photos Ghibli-fied:
The feature proved so popular – one millions users in the first hour (according to GQ France) – that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reported on X that “our GPUs are melting” and limited free users to being able to generate only three images per day. He asked users to “please chill” and let his team get some sleep!
One of our favourite French Riviera influencers, BEN, posted this animated video saying: “What if Nice had been imagined in an animated film? I played along and gave it the full ‘Studio Ghibli’ treatment. Curious to know what you think!”
The Côte d’Azur seems to suit the new trend!
What does Studio Ghibli think of this latest ChatGPT trend?
While Studio Ghibli has not yet commented, its co-founder Hayao Miyazaki famously said in 2016 that AI “disgusted” him and he “would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
We asked ChatGPT for its response, and it said: “The recent surge in AI-generated images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic has sparked debates about copyright and artistic integrity. Legal experts suggest that while individual artworks are protected by copyright, replicating a general artistic style, such as Studio Ghibli’s, may not constitute infringement under current laws.”
