Take a look at this example.
Apparently this is some legendary artist in Japan, who is being shown an animation created by an AI. His reaction?“I strongly feel this is an insult to Life itself”
…
DAMN !!!
Later on he muses that we are nearing the end times.
Biological chauvinism can be so ugly. 
It’s like the “High Expectations Asian Father” meme in real life…
For those who are curious, the artist is Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of the films Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, among others. His films are widely considered the pinnacle of anime.
I thought his observation “We humans are losing faith in ourselves” was a bit overwrought. I found his and Toshio Suzuki’s reactions pretty extreme: there was no sense of wonder, only disgust. You could see the reaction to that was confused disappointment from the presenters. I’m really curious about what video this footage was taken from, especially what was the focus of the video and why did they show this technology to Miyazaki?
(To be clear, “video” does not refer to the clip shown to Miyazaki.)
Well, in all fairness, maybe the A.I. was trying to chew gum at the same time.
He didn’t really seem upset simply that an AI was animating something. He was shown some deformed person splaying itself along the floor and writhing along while the presenter was like “Haha, check this fucked up thing out. You could animate a zombie out of this. He’s using his head for a leg because he doesn’t feel pain”
Miyazaki responds that he has a friend who is disabled and unable to move properly and this strikes him as offensive and he wouldn’t be interested in using something like that. I suspect that his response may have been different if he was shown an AI created animation of a springing fawn or woman enjoying a cup of tea.
I think this line is not saying that the AI itself is bad, but that what they chose to animate - a crippled, semi-human that feels no pain and is therefore rather lacking in what real disabled people experience.
He’s clearly not happy later on when it’s revealed that they want an AI that can draw like a person. If he really thinks it’s because people have no self-confidence, I can see where his “end of times” thinking comes from. Maybe he’s just not understanding the big picture that advancement of AI and robotics will come one piece at a time. An AI that teaches itself locomotion or drawing is solving little pieces of a bigger puzzle. Developing the AI doesn’t have to be motivated by a lack of self-confidence and either he doesn’t understand that or he knows that he’ll get more views if he says something ridiculous and controversial.
Yeah, to me his reaction isn’t against the AI but rather against the deformed man convulsing across the floor.
And not just the father, that programmer who was part of the team that worked on this clearly looked devastated. Like he had failed not only his father, but all of Japan.
Maybe they should have tried it with Otomo, first.
Well, this is the man who once said that anime was a huge mistake…
Miyazaki is a notorious luddite. What did they expect?
Ya know, I’ve heard this before about him, but I’ve never actually been able to locate a source for that quote other than various gifs and videos made by otaku. I cannot read Japanese, so the original Golden Times site is worthless to me and the RocketNews24 site about the Golden Times interview doesn’t contain the quote. Can you help me out?
Hm, well, if you have the Golden Times link handy, I’m sure SOMEONE here can read it…
I have made countless presentations in Japanese to wide variety of audiences.
I would not attempt to make a judgment based solely on this clip. The final comments are given without further context.
What I sure as hell would never have done is make a presentation to a “master” of Miyakaki’s statue without making damn sure what the reaction would be.
It’s called “nemawashi” and SOP is to have the respective subordinates coordinate with each other.
Once someone like that has spoken, there is no recovery in the meeting. You simply thank them for their “instructions” and shut the fuck up.
And profusely apologize for being the scum of the Earth, of course.
This is taken from some TV show and is quite typical of Japanese thinking, which emphasizes human emotions above all else.
A typical show will have an upstart doing something well meaning but fundamentally wrong and have the master correct them. You can’t ague against the master in a public setting without causing them to lose case.
You can see everyone on that side of the table start to look at their shoes.
The head of the studio is in the middle of the table and the man making the presentation is on their far right. This isn’t by chance. Japanese publish books on the proper etiquette of setting arrangements for everything from meeting to sharing a taxi with your boss and client.
Good point. I also have a FOAF who is from Japan; I’ll have to ask her to take a look if I see her in the next few weeks.
The Golden Times does not say what Leaper claimed.
The Rocket News translation is fine.