Who is Grant Slatton, the man credited for popularity of Studio Ghibli images

On March 26, 2025, OpenAI released its latest image-generation feature. Using this feature, Slatton transformed a family photo featuring himself, his wife, and their dog into a Ghibli-style image. The caption on the picture read, “Tremendous alpha right now in sending your wife photos of y’all converted to Studio Ghibli anime.”

The post rapidly went viral, amassing nearly 50 million views and inspiring thousands to generate their own Ghibli-style portraits.

The trend became so popular that OpenAI’s servers struggled to keep up, with Sam Altman urging users to slow down.

Eventually, ChatGPT imposed a daily limit on image generation for its users.

Also Read: Studio Ghibli pics: 5 apps to generate animated photos for free | Step-by-step guide

Who is Grant Slatton?

While Slatton is now recognized as the originator of Ghibli images, he has long been a major player in the tech world. Slatton currently works as a founding engineer at Row Zero, creating the world’s fastest spreadsheet.

He has also been deeply involved in AI research, exploring fields like machine learning and cloud computing. In the past, he served as a senior engineer at Amazon Web Services, where he played a vital role in developing high-performance storage nodes for the world’s largest cloud storage service.

By combining his technical expertise with creativity, he has worked to make AI art more accessible to the public. On his blog, he has written multiple articles on topics such as AI and technology, technocapital, how to write software, and LLM model capabilities. Outside of work, Slatton enjoys training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and spending time with his wife and their corgi.

While Slatton’s work in AI is gaining recognition, it has also sparked debates and concerns about the use of AI for creative purposes.

Since Studio Ghibli is renowned for its meticulous hand-drawn animation, the trend has raised questions about originality and ethics. Even the founder, Hayao Miyazaki, has openly criticized AI-generated art, calling it an “insult to life itself.”