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OpenAI's latest image generation feature, which has been integrated into ChatGPT, has taken the internet by storm. Users have notably flooded social media with AI-generated images in the hand-painted style of Studio Ghibli.
However, reports suggest that the overwhelming demand has placed significant strain on OpenAI's infrastructure. This has led the company to impose temporary rate limits.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the issue, stating:
"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 [it] won't be long! chatgpt free tier will get 3 generations per day soon."
He added,
"(also, we are refusing some generations that should be allowed; we are fixing these as fast we can.)"
He announced that OpenAI would implement restrictions and focus on enhancing efficiency. Free-tier users will soon be restricted to three image generations per day.
The viral Ghibli-style trend explored
OpenAI recently introduced a new image generation tool as part of its GPT-4o model. Shortly after its release, users began to explore its capabilities. Reports suggest this eventually led to a notable surge in Ghibli-style image generation and social media uploads.
Personal photos, movie scenes, and internet memes, among others, were reimagined in the beloved aesthetic of Studio Ghibli, known for its soft watercolor textures and character designs.
The trend quickly went viral, with multiple companies and celebrities joining in. CEO Sam Altman even changed his profile picture to an AI-generated Ghibli-style portrait, commenting on X:
"Changed my pfp but maybe someone will make me a better one"
He also made a couple of posts regarding the new image-generation feature of ChatGPT and the Ghibli-style trend. Sam Altman penned:
">be me >grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever >mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything >wake up one day to hundreds of messages: "look i made you into a twink ghibli style haha""
He continued:
"images in chatgpt are wayyyy more popular than we expected (and we had pretty high expectations). rollout to our free tier is unfortunately going to be delayed for awhile."
Why is OpenAI imposing limits?
While OpenAI reportedly anticipated "pretty high" interest in its new image-generation feature, actual demand exceeded those expectations. The computational cost of generating high-quality AI images requires significant GPU power, reports indicate.
The company allegedly delayed the rollout of the image tool for free-tier users; however, OpenAI still found its infrastructure under strain. As a result, the company decided to impose rate limits. Paid users may enjoy greater flexibility, but free-tier users will soon be restricted to three image generations per day.
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