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Anime Overload 🎨🤖
What’s Appening: ChatGPT Anime AI, Apple’s AI Doctor, TikTok Deadline, OG Facebook
Newsletter
April 01, 2025
THERE’S NO ESCAPE FROM STUDIO GHIBLI AI IMAGES THIS WEEK*
* We didn’t actually use AI to create the meme this week. An already-created
image was used, with our own obviously not-AI handcrafted edits.
👀 TLDR
In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover the viral moment that flooded the web with AI anime images. It seemed like lots of fun to use ChatGPT’s new tool to turn photos and memes into Studio Ghibli-style anime, but concerns over copyright, fraud, and egregious energy waste soon came to the fore. We also have news on Apple’s AI bet on Health, the looming deadline for the TikTok US sale, a solution to Wikipedia’s terrible images, and more!
🎬 Our Top Take
📱📵 OpenAI – Studio Ghibli Style is Everywhere as ChatGPT’s Image Gen. Goes Viral
“An insult to life itself” is among the phrases Hayao Miyazaki used to describe his abhorrence for AI in a 2023 interview with Far Out Magazine. The legendary animator and founder of Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away) must have, therefore, been horrified this week to see “Studio Ghibli-style” AI images absolutely flood the web. It’s all down to OpenAI’s new image generator, which, among other things, can take any photo and transform it into the animation of your choice – South Park, Japanese Anime, whatever you like (almost). It can also create the kind of content that until now would need the service of a designer, with detailed instruction enabling (accurate-ish) text overlays, extraction and re-imagination of uploaded photos (eg. product pics), and iterative editing of images to help you get things looking perfect (ish). The release went viral, with OpenAI having to limit access because too many people were using it. Yet, not everyone saw the fun side. The response of animation studio bosses meant that copyright concerns were high on the agenda. The specter of fraud was raised when it was found that the image generator is really good at faking receipts. Moreover, there are environmental worries, with some estimates suggesting creating one anime image consumes as much energy as fully charging your smartphone. We can’t escape the fact that the image generator (now available free through ChatGPT) is hugely impressive while also wondering about energy sustainability and what sort of rules system should govern this massive tech advancement. #AIAnime Read more here.
🗣️ Poll: Should Energy Concerns Limit Our AI Use? |
📲 App of the Week: MLB App
The new MLB season got underway on Thursday, heralding six months of (hopefully) warm and lazy summer evenings at the ballpark with chili dogs and beers aplenty. The MLB App has long been a big hitter: full of stats, news, and cool features. But the reason we selected the app this week is its increasing integration with Apple Vision Pro, allowing you to experience the ballgame like never before. You’ll need an MLB.TV subscription to get the most out of it – but it’s worth it to immerse yourself in the game with a screening like no other. Get the MLB app here.
🧐 Stat of the Week: 1 in 11.4M
📈📉 Fantasy Sports - Pen & Paper Approach Beats Out Algorithmic Players
Fantasy sports are a big draw on both sides of the Atlantic, but you might argue that the players who take it too seriously with algorithms – and, increasingly, AI – suck a lot of the fun out of it. There is hope for the amateur players yet, though, as 67-year-old UK Fantasy Premier League player Susan Clarke currently tops the league made up of 11.4 million players. Her approach? Good old pen and paper and a dash of gut feeling. There are nine weeks to go: can she beat the data scientists? #PenIsMighty Read more here.
🗞️ Other Stories
👩🏽⚕️ AI Doc. Apple’s secret weapon in an AI race it’s clearly losing? Health. Tim Cook wants to prioritize AI in a revamped Health app, which is set to include an AI Doctor service. Details here. 💾 OG Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would return to its roots, and he’s following through with a revamped Friends tab that will only show updates from people you know. More here. | ⏰ Deadline Nears. President Trump suggested that a deal would be made to sell TikTok US before Saturday’s April 5th deadline looms. Will the drama finally come to an end? Story here. 📸 Photo Fix. One problem that’s long dogged Wikipedia is crappy images. It’s all down to copyright, but a new amateur photo program intends to change all that. Get the story here. |
📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance
It’s no secret (hopefully) that 3Advance is really proud of the positive social impact of so many of our apps and custom applications (yeah, they’re the less exciting behind-the-scenes admin panels that drive the back operations of our mostly non-profit clients). Well, in the past few years, we’ve worked to support faith-based startups that are truly making a difference in people’s lives. Hot off the heels (no pun intended) of Footsteps with Jesus, we began working with the incredible Emily P Freeman, author and podcast host of The Next Right Thing, in February. When we were drafted to entirely revamp The Quiet Collection app (iOS / Android) infrastructure and experience, we also jumped at the chance to support the launch of Emily’s “Lent Collection” — a beautiful collection of reflections released daily during this season of Lent. The response to this release was incredible, with sales of Emily’s latest work far exceeding the investment she had already committed to with 3Advance. From listening to Emily’s podcast and in-app reflections, it’s easy to understand why. We are so proud of our efforts to support her mission and excited by our future together, helping her business grow and impacting the lives of her listeners. Learn more about Emily here. |  |
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