Decoder with Nilay Patel

What AI anime memes tell us about the future of art and humanity

Listen Later

Today, we’re diving head first into the AI art debate, which to be honest, is an absolute mess. If you’ve been on the internet this past week, you’ve seen the Studio Ghibli memes. These images are everywhere — and they’ve widened an already pretty stark rift between AI boosters and critics.


Brian Merchant, author of the newsletter and book Blood in the Machine, wrote one of the best analyses of the Ghibli trend last week. So I invited him onto the show not only to discuss this particular situation, but also to help me dissect the ongoing AI art debate more broadly. 



Links: 

  • OpenAI's Studio Ghibli meme factory is an insult to art itself | Brian Merchant
  • Seattle engineer’s Ghibli-style image goes viral | Seattle Times
  • OpenAI just raised another $40 billion round from SoftBank | Verge
  • ChatGPT “added one million users in the last hour.” | Verge
  • ChatGPT’s Ghibli filter is political now, but it always was | Verge
  • OpenAI, Google ask the government to let them train on content they don’t own | Verge
  • Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction | Max Read
  • OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem | Vergecast
  • AI slop is a brute force attack on the algorithms that control reality | 404 Media
  • The New Aesthetics of Fascism | New Socialist


    • Credits:

    Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

    Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright. 

    The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    Decoder with Nilay PatelBy The Verge
    • 4.1
    • 4.1
    • 4.1
    • 4.1
    • 4.1

    4.1

    3,081 ratings

    More shows like Decoder with Nilay Patel

    View all
    Uncanny Valley | WIRED by WIRED

    Uncanny Valley | WIRED

    409 Listeners

    The Vergecast by The Verge

    The Vergecast

    3,652 Listeners

    The Talk Show With John Gruber by Daring Fireball / John Gruber

    The Talk Show With John Gruber

    3,115 Listeners

    Accidental Tech Podcast by Marco Arment, Casey Liss, John Siracusa

    Accidental Tech Podcast

    2,093 Listeners

    Upgrade by Relay

    Upgrade

    1,192 Listeners

    Gastropod by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

    Gastropod

    3,593 Listeners

    Switched on Pop by Vulture

    Switched on Pop

    2,599 Listeners

    Explain It to Me by Vox

    Explain It to Me

    7,844 Listeners

    Pivot by New York Magazine

    Pivot

    8,901 Listeners

    Channels with Peter Kafka by Vox Media Podcast Network

    Channels with Peter Kafka

    547 Listeners

    The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

    The Gray Area with Sean Illing

    10,643 Listeners

    The Engadget Podcast by Engadget

    The Engadget Podcast

    138 Listeners

    Good One: A Podcast About Jokes by Vulture

    Good One: A Podcast About Jokes

    1,435 Listeners

    AppStories by Federico Viticci, John Voorhees

    AppStories

    509 Listeners

    Techmeme Ride Home by Brian McCullough

    Techmeme Ride Home

    943 Listeners

    The Cut by Vox Media Podcast Network

    The Cut

    1,585 Listeners

    Future Perfect by Vox

    Future Perfect

    585 Listeners

    Land of the Giants by Vulture

    Land of the Giants

    2,154 Listeners

    Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast by Vox Media Podcast Network

    Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

    5,903 Listeners

    Unlocking Us with Brené Brown by Vox Media Podcast Network

    Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

    23,613 Listeners

    The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway by Vox Media Podcast Network

    The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

    5,241 Listeners

    A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe by Vox Media Podcast Network

    A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe

    636 Listeners

    Hard Fork by The New York Times

    Hard Fork

    5,370 Listeners

    Celebrity Memoir Book Club by celebritymemoirbookclub@gmail.com

    Celebrity Memoir Book Club

    6,267 Listeners

    Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast by Vox Media Podcast Network

    Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

    5,903 Listeners

    Not Just Football with Cam Heyward by Cam Heyward

    Not Just Football with Cam Heyward

    137 Listeners

    On with Kara Swisher by Vox Media

    On with Kara Swisher

    3,120 Listeners

    Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF by Vivian Tu

    Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

    1,703 Listeners

    Served with Andy Roddick by Served with Andy Roddick

    Served with Andy Roddick

    871 Listeners

    Prof G Markets by Vox Media Podcast Network

    Prof G Markets

    909 Listeners