‘Hopefully Won’t Be Long’: OpenAI CEO On Restoring Full ChatGPT Image Access

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced that the company is imposing temporary limits on ChatGPT’s image generation feature due to overwhelming server load. The decision comes after users flooded the platform to create Studio Ghibli-style images, causing performance issues.

Altman shared the update on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT. But our GPUs are melting. We are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. Hopefully won’t be long.”

The AI-generated images went viral across social media platforms, with thousands of users testing the new tool. This sudden surge in demand significantly slowed down OpenAI’s systems, leading the company to introduce restrictions.

Free Users to Get Limited Access Soon

Despite the temporary limits, Altman reassured users that ChatGPT’s free-tier members would soon receive access to the image generation feature. “ChatGPT free tier will get 3 generations per day soon,” he wrote. Currently, the tool is mostly available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers who have access to GPT-4o.

New Image Generation Capabilities in ChatGPT

OpenAI introduced its latest image generation tool just days ago, allowing users not only to generate AI images but also to modify and edit existing ones through text prompts. While OpenAI had initially announced that the feature would be accessible to all ChatGPT users, including those on the free tier, the rollout has been inconsistent. As of now, it remains largely available to paid subscribers.

Previously, ChatGPT’s image generation was powered by standalone models like DALL·E. However, OpenAI’s latest tool integrates both text and image capabilities into a unified AI system, enhancing its creative potential.

As OpenAI works to optimize its infrastructure, users may experience limitations on image generation until the company resolves the high server demand.