The big picture: Only days ago we were reporting that ChatGPT’s updated image generator was sparking a wave of Studio Ghibli-style recreations across social media. But the wave was just getting started and in mere days it hit the mainstream, becoming a full-blown fad. While CEO Sam Altman is celebrating the newfound attention, the massive growth in GPT’s user base, and a fresh round of funding, the tool’s explosive popularity is putting serious strain on OpenAI’s infrastructure. Altman revealed that demand has been so intense it’s been “melting” their GPUs.
While Apple faces delays with its Apple Intelligence rollout and Google struggles to impress with Gemini – delivering sometimes underwhelming and mostly annoying AI search results – OpenAI is charging ahead.
The company announced plans to release its first “open” language model since GPT-2, promising a version users can run on their own hardware later this year. Also, OpenAI just closed a staggering $40 billion funding round, the largest private tech deal on record, cementing its position at the forefront of the AI race.
OpenAI’s latest image-generation tool has taken the internet by storm this past week, although its runaway popularity is putting significant strain on the company’s infrastructure. Altman acknowledged the overwhelming response on X. “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT. But our GPUs are melting,” he wrote.
the chatgpt launch 26 months ago was one of the craziest viral moments i’d ever seen, and we added one million users in five days.
we added one million users in the last hour.
– Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
To manage the strain, OpenAI has temporarily limited usage while working to optimize efficiency. Altman assured users that the free tier of ChatGPT will soon allow up to three image generations per day, though he did not specify the exact rate limits being implemented.
This latest update to ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities launched last week and has quickly gained traction for its ability to produce highly realistic visuals with improved text rendering. However, much of the buzz has centered on users leveraging the tool to create memes and portraits in the style of Studio Ghibli, the iconic Japanese animation studio known for films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.
Social media platforms have been inundated with Ghibli-inspired reinterpretations of people, animals, historical events, and even podcasts.
Altman also joined in on the trend, updating his X profile picture to a Ghibli-style version of himself. But this viral phenomenon has reignited debates over copyright infringement in AI-generated art. Critics argue that AI models are often trained on datasets containing copyrighted works without explicit permission from creators. OpenAI is already facing several lawsuits related to this issue.
To address these concerns, OpenAI stated that it has implemented safeguards to prevent users from generating images in the style of living artists. However, this policy has raised questions about consistency.
For example, Studio Ghibli’s co-founder Hayao Miyazaki – who famously denounced AI as an “insult to life itself” in a 2016 documentary – is still alive. While the free version of ChatGPT explicitly refuses to produce images mimicking Ghibli’s style, it appears to allow broader replication of the studio’s aesthetic.
When I asked the tool to create a Ghibli-style image of the movie Thelma & Louise, it generated the image successfully (above). A few minutes later, I requested an image of Batman and Robin in the same style, and the tool responded with an error.
However, many others prompting ChatGPT to create a Ghibli-style image report that ChatGPT sometimes declines, citing content policy guidelines and instead offering an alternative suggestion: “Perhaps a symbolic representation of technology and art clashing in a fantasy setting.” OpenAI clarified to TechCrunch that while individual artists’ styles are off-limits, broader studio styles remain permissible within its guidelines.
TL;DR: we are excited to release a powerful new open-weight language model with reasoning in the coming months, and we want to talk to devs about how to make it maximally useful: https://t.co/XKB4XxjREV
we are excited to make this a very, very good model!
__
we are planning to…
– Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
Meanwhile, the tool’s meteoric rise has drawn commentary from prominent tech and venture capital figures. David Sacks, a venture capitalist advising President Donald Trump on cryptocurrency and AI policy, responded to Altman’s announcement with a link to a blog post stating: “The next big thing will start out looking like a toy.” Altman replied humorously: “Yeah, I just didn’t think it would be this toy :).”
