World
India
The internet has been buzzing after OpenAI rolled out its native image generation feature to free users, leading to a flood of Studio Ghibli-style images across social media. The surge in popularity was so intense that ChatGPT recorded one million new users in just an hour, following another million sign-ups in five days.
chatgpt image gen now rolled out to all free users!
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 1, 2025
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his amazement at the viral response.
“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,” Altman wrote.
we will not do anything silly like saying that you cant use our open model if your service has more than 700 million monthly active users.
we want everyone to use it!
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
ChatGPT’s Image Generation Craze
On March 26, OpenAI expanded the image generation feature to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users globally. Initially, social media users were captivated by the ability to transform their images into the art style of Studio Ghibli, the renowned Japanese animation studio. However, free-tier users had to wait a bit longer before gaining access to the feature.
The overwhelming demand soon pushed OpenAI’s computing resources to their limits, leading to certain restrictions.
“It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT. But our GPUs are melting,” Altman admitted.
To address the high server load, OpenAI introduced temporary rate limits, reducing free-tier users to three image generations per day until further optimization is achieved.
Social Media Reactions and Future Challenges
With OpenAI witnessing a record-breaking increase in users, discussions have emerged about the long-term sustainability and practical applications of the technology.
Some social media users expressed concerns over turning ChatGPT from a personal entertainment tool into a business-oriented AI solution.
- “All nice, the fun-created stuff, but who is building real business on top of these solutions?” one user questioned.
- “If it’s just for fun images, users will come and go within days. Need more serious day-to-day AI applications,” another user remarked.
The Evolution of ChatGPT
Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT quickly became one of the most influential AI-driven chatbots, revolutionizing text-based interactions. Now, with advanced image-generation capabilities, OpenAI continues to push the boundaries of AI-powered creativity.
As demand surges, OpenAI faces the challenge of balancing innovation, accessibility, and infrastructure capacity, ensuring that users can continue enjoying AI-generated images without technical constraints.
