ChatGPT’s new image generator is no doubt tempting for forward-looking marketeers, but don’t shrug off the legal risks, writes Paul Armstrong

ChatGPT’s new image tools didn’t go viral because they were useful, they went viral because they made people feel seen, literally. With a few prompts, users could generate stylised portraits in the aesthetic of Studio Ghibli, Pixar, dark anime, dreamcore and anything else the model could mimic. Nothing that you couldn’t do before, but now it’s inside the mothership, and that’s the key.

What followed was less about AI and more about identity and utility. People shared versions of themselves that felt curated, elevated, optimised. The numbers spiked. ChatGPT hit record usage levels, not because it helped people do more, but because it was right there, and offered a way to see and share stylised versions of the self. Identity became a product feature.

Behind the Ghibli glows and Pixar polish sits a growing problem. The same tools now fuelling mass adoption are dragging businesses into legal and operational chaos. Popularity has outpaced governance. Many of these visuals rely on prompts that reference recognisable IP. When someone asks for “a portrait in the style of Ghibli”, the result is more than a nod. Most of these tools were trained on datasets scraped from the internet, often including copyrighted works. Consent from rights holders was rarely sought, let alone granted. Studios like Ghibli and Disney are not quietly observing. Legal teams are already preparing action, and enforcement won’t be manual.

The consequences of using AI images

Rights holders are expected to deploy........

© City A.M.