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OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in November 2022 as a conversational AI tool designed to generate human-like text-based responses based on user prompts. Netizens were abuzz when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT's native image generation feature to free users, leading to a flood of Studio Ghibli-style images across the internet. The viral frenzy was so intense that ChatGPT reached one million users within just one hour, doubling the one million users it had initially garnered in the first five days.
"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 announced on X. The CEO further stated that “image generation has now been rolled out to free users.”
chatgpt image gen now rolled out to all free users!
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 1, 2025
On March 26, OpenAI launched the native image generation feature for all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users globally. The new Studio Ghibli-inspired artwork feature, particularly popular in Japan, quickly captured the attention of social media users, who began transforming their images into the style of famous anime films. After a brief delay, this feature was eventually made available to free users as well.
Meanwhile, OpenAI added certain restrictions over image generation for both paid and free users due to excessive demand which was “melting its GPUs (graphics processing units)," according to Altman. “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! ChatGPT free tier will get 3 generations per day soon,” OpenAI CEO wrote in a separate post on X.
Following Altman's announcement of increasing user numbers, many social media users have expressed concerns, with most pointing out the potential challenges the company may face in the future. One of the users said, “I think the biggest struggle still is - how do you move this from a personal thing to a business productivity or impact thing.” Another user added, “All nice the fun created stuff, but who is building real business on top of these solutions?” “If just for fun images, users come and go within days, need more serious day-to-day AI usages,” another social media user said.