Bengaluru police hop on to Ghibli art trend, use AI images to connect more effectively with the public

The Bengaluru city police recently uploaded a YouTube short on the Hanumanthnagar burglary case, incorporating an image of Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda and other senior officials in the Ghibli art style. Additionally, the video also consisted of Ghibli art-generated images explaining the sequence of events leading up to the arrest of the suspect.

Dayananda told The Indian Express, “Using Ghibli art we wanted to convey and communicate better with the viewers. We want to ensure that the messaging reaches them effectively and explains the misgivings more comprehensively to the viewers. For example, in the Hanumanthnagar burglary case, we have shown how the victims had left the door open, eventually leading to the burglary using AI-generated images. We want to incorporate the sequence of events leading to the crime with related representative AI images using Ghibli art to make storytelling more visually appealing.”

He added, “This way, we want to make storytelling more meaningful and create more awareness among the public. This will make messaging more engaging compared to press releases or the usual visual content. We will soon expand this Ghibli art trend to the traffic department as well, where we will issue important public advisories for comprehensive messaging.”

Another official working closely with the social media team of the BCP said, “We will engage in extensive visual storytelling techniques using this Ghibli art. We want more people to watch the police department’s video. Even a person who doesn’t understand Kannada will be able to comprehend the message through generative AI images. Soon we will start issuing traffic advisories, important traffic guidelines using Ghibli art.”

Ghibli art is also currently being used by netizens and civic groups to highlight the infrastructure woes of Bengaluru. Images inspired by Ghibli art were used to draw attention to the long-pending Ejipura flyover, besides creating anime versions of potholes and poor road infrastructure in Bengaluru.