OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has hinted at a major update to the company image-generating tool after an unprecedented surge in demand for Studio Ghibli-style AI art. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Altman teased a new version of the feature, writing, “y’all are not ready for images v2.. 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.”
The viral trend of generating AI-created images inspired by Studio Ghibli renowned for films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro led to record-breaking user engagement on OpenAI’s platform. Altman revealed that OpenAI added one million users in a single hour, a growth rate even faster than the launch of ChatGPT two years ago.
Data from market intelligence firm SensorTower confirmed the impact showing an 11% rise in global app downloads and a 5% increase in weekly active users. In-app purchases also climbed 6% as more users engaged with OpenAI’s GPT-4o-powered image generation tool.
The overwhelming demand put significant strain on OpenAI’s servers prompting Altman to request users to slow down their AI-generated image requests. “Can y’all please chill on generating images? This is insane our team needs sleep,” he wrote.
OpenAI had to temporarily limit image generation to maintain service stability with Altman admitting that his team has been struggling to keep up. “We just haven’t been able to catch up since launch, so people are still working to keep the service up. Biblical demand I have never seen anything like it.
The massive surge has also led to warnings of potential service disruptions. Altman advised users to expect slower responses, temporary feature limitations, and possible delays in new OpenAI releases. “We are getting things under control, but you should expect new releases from OpenAI to be delayed, stuff to break, and for service to sometimes be slow as we deal with capacity challenges.”
He also made an urgent appeal for additional computing power, asking, “If anyone has GPU capacity in 100k chunks we can get ASAP, please call!”
With OpenAI preparing to roll out a new version of its image-generation tool, speculation is growing over what enhancements might be introduced. While details remain unclear, the ongoing frenzy over Ghibli style AI art suggests that demand for AI-generated visual content is stronger than ever. Altman’s cryptic teaser suggests that OpenAI is on the verge of unveiling even more advanced capabilities that could redefine the way users create digital art.