OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defended AI-generated art, saying that despite its flaws, the technology ultimately benefits society. 

His comments come amid renewed backlash from fans and artists after Ghibli-style AI images went viral. 

“I think the democratisation of creating content has been a big net win for society. It has not been a complete win; there are negative things about it for sure, and certainly, it did something about the art form, but I think on the whole, it’s been a win,” Altman said on a podcast hosted by Varun Mayya.

The viral trend followed the launch of ChatGPT’s GPT-4o image generation, leading to accusations of style theft from Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. A resurfaced video showed co-founder Hayao Miyazaki reportedly calling AI “an insult to life,” though some say the clip was taken out of context.

Altman acknowledged the impact on jobs: “It doesn’t mean that it [AI-generated art] doesn’t cause some job loss, and some people who had a sort of differential ability to do something now have a lot more competition. But overall, I think it’s a real benefit to society.”

He emphasised that OpenAI itself wouldn’t exist without falling tech barriers. “OpenAI… only got to happen because the barriers to entry to a bunch of different pieces of technology stack got significantly low,” he said.

India, Altman added, is now OpenAI’s fastest-growing market. “India was one of the first markets outside the US that jumped on AI in a huge, huge way.”

While acknowledging risks, Altman remains optimistic. He said coders could become “10 times more productive” with AI, though he expects uneven effects across industries.

He concluded that AI would likely make creative and technical work more accessible and widespread, even if it disrupts existing norms along the way.