Ghibli-Style Images Are Breaking the Internet | ✉️ #66

Illustrated image with text "MKDEV DISPATCH #66" and "Ghibli-style images are breaking the internet." Features a stylized drawing of a person with glasses and a hoodie, and a paper airplane on a patterned background.
Last updated: | Published:
Illustrated image with text "MKDEV DISPATCH #66" and "Ghibli-style images are breaking the internet." Features a stylized drawing of a person with glasses and a hoodie, and a paper airplane on a patterned background.

Hey! 👋

No, we’re not hopping on the hype train to Ghibli-fy the world. But this trend of turning everything into dreamy Studio Ghibli landscapes is a perfect example of why AI literacy is becoming evolutionarily important.

Illustration of a determined character carrying another who holds a stick with dangling carrots, set against a lush landscape and blue sky. A sword inscribed with "IGNORANTIA JURIS NON EXCUSAT" looms above, while a small ghostly figure floats beside.

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been sharing a lot about the EU AI Act and, more specifically, about AI literacy. Read the articles about it below. And I want to take a moment to explain why this matters.

Here’s a simple, harmless example we shared after our internal AI literacy training, led by Paul: Two images – one edited with traditional software, the other generated entirely by AI.

Laptop on desk showing a video conference with three participants and a slide presentation titled "mkdev AI literacy training." A white mug with "mkdev" branding is beside the laptop.

Laptop screen showing a virtual meeting with three participants and a slide titled "mkdev AI literacy training." A white mug with "mkdev" on it sits next to the laptop on a wooden desk.

At first glance, they look similar. But when you look closely, and the AI-generated image starts to feel... off. And then you cannot unsee it.

In this context, the consequences are trivial. But in finance, insurance, healthcare – the difference between “looks fine” and “is fine” could mean the difference between a good decision and a life-altering one.

Getting back to Ghibli trend – It shows how fast, and how unconsciously, this shift is happening. Today we’re flooding the internet with beautiful, fake imagery – images that might be nostalgic or comforting, but also completely synthetic. So what happens when we can't tell the difference anymore? What happens when decisions, judgments, or products are based on this kind of content that we create today without knowing where it came from, or whether it's trustworthy?

That’s why AI literacy matters. Not to turn everyone into data scientists, but to help people understand how AI systems work (and fail), spot when something feels off, and make better decisions, both as individuals and organizations. That’s also why we’re running AI literacy training – for our own team, and for others. And honestly, I’m glad the EU made it a legal requirement. As the saying goes: all safety instructions are written in blood.

By the way, did you notice, the hand that holds a larger stick has six fingers? I promise, I tried three times, and every time it generates 6 fingers.

What We've Shared

And on the website there are three new articles this time: one regular tutorial, and two more pieces by Paul explaining the EU AI Act. A perfect addition to the latest podcast!

An announcement

If you were tired of X lately and moved to Bluesky, you can find mkdev there: follow us on Bluesky! If you didn't, don't worry, our Twitter profile also doesn't go anywhere.

The 67th mkdev dispatch will arrive on Friday, April 11th. See you next time!

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Let us send you the best of what we've discovered in DevOps, Cloud and Kubernetes, as well us occasional event announcements.

​

We are also preparing some ways to learn together: weekly challenges, free courses and more. Subscribe now to be the first to get those.