Creating Ghibli Images? How to Prevent OpenAI From Training Its AI on Your Pics

Hayao Miyazaki, the iconic founder of Studio Ghibli, is not a fan of generative AI, famously calling it “an insult to life itself” in 2016. Now, almost a decade later, OpenAI has released a ChatGPT image generator that lets chatbot users request Ghibli-inspired images.

It’s a popular feature; “our GPUs are melting” due to demand, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X. But as the adage goes, “If something is free, you are the product,” and with this image generator, OpenAI is using your data to improve its model by default.

In developing ChatGPT, OpenAI scraped the web, scooping up articles, images, and videos. (Rival AI startups did the same thing.) That process is ongoing, so anything you upload or type into the chatbot is used to further train and refine these models.

“Training on images reflecting a vast variety of image styles allows the model to create or transform images convincingly,” OpenAI said when announcing the image generator.

If you’re just looking to create a new profile picture for your social media accounts, are you willing to help OpenAI (or Google, Microsoft, or Meta) improve its products, and make more money, for free? Many publishers, authors, and other rights holders are not, and they’re suing for compensation. If you’re wary of handing over your data to ChatGPT, here’s how to limit its reach.

How to Stop ChatGPT From Training On Your Data

(Credit: PCMag / OpenAI)

On ChatGPT and the Sora video generator, OpenAI has a setting that allows you to protect your privacy to some extent. Flip a switch to opt out of having your private chats or images used to help train its AI models. The process is slightly different between tools.

If you’re using ChatGPT, click your profile picture and select Settings. Open Data controls > Improve the model for everyone and disable the switch to prevent your prompts and images from being used by OpenAI. If you use the feature that lets you search the web with your voice, make sure the toggles that control settings for voice and video recordings are also disabled here.

(Credit: PCMag / OpenAI)

For those using Sora, click your profile and choose Settings, then make sure Improve the model for everyone has been disabled. You may also wish to turn off Publish to explore, if you don’t want your creations to be made public for other users to find. However, take note that this will not unpublish images and videos that have already been uploaded.

About Jason Cohen

Senior Editor, Help & How To

As PCMag’s editor of how to content, I have to cover a wide variety of topics and also make our stories accessible to everyday users. Considering my history as a technical writer, copywriter, and all-around freelancer covering baseball, comics, and more at various outlets, I am used to making myself into an expert.

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