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The Artificial Life Tech Miyazaki Slammed Will Be Unveiled Thursday

In 2016, the never shy Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki took to task a CGI team at Dwango Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The segment, from the NHK documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, shows the director respond negatively to a presentation of an artificial intelligence animation program. The program takes a human model but ignores standard limitations to make it move, causing it to writhe across the ground in unnatural ways.

Miyazaki was appalled and called the animation "an insult to life itself" to a stunned staff. Several years have passed and despite Miyazaki's reaction, the team has continued to work on the technology dubbed ARTILIFE. It will finally be unveiled to the public on Thursday and the staff seem unaffected by the criticism from several years ago; they're even using it as part of the promotion for Thursday's presentation.

The Dwango Game Conference promises an appearance by Miyazaki (although not necessarily live) and an unveiling of the technology he "hated," according to the event description. The second half of the stream will include new information on Dwango's Custom Cast app, an AR program that lets users design their own Virtual YouTuber, and the Engage Princess browser game.

Virtual YouTuber Siro, Chunsoft president Kōichi Nakamura, and Dwango's Shigetaka Kurita will host the first half of the presentation.

Fans can see the documentary that started it all when GKIDS releases Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki in more than 500 United States theaters on Thursday, December 13 and Tuesday, December 18.

Source: Dwango Game Conference event page via Hachima Kikō