OpenAI's latest ChatGPT feature has sparked a viral wave, with one million new users flocking to the platform in just one hour, according to the site's co-founder Sam Altman. A new AI image generation tool that lets users create highly detailed visuals and logos, and even allows users to transform photos into personalized masterpieces triggered a surge in new customers this week.
Active users, in-app subscription revenue and app downloads reached an all-time high, according to SensorTower data, after the AI company launched updates to its GPT-4o model, enabling the advanced image generation capabilities. Global app downloads and weekly active users on the ChatGPT app grew 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively, from the prior week, while in-app purchase revenue increased 6 percent, the market intelligence firm said.
The ground-breaking tool has since been made available for free users of the app Altman said, adding that the massive influx was among the 'craziest' he's ever seen. '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,' the OpenAI boss wrote on X on Monday. 'We added one million users in the last hour.'
The artificial-intelligence company said it designed the image-editing feature to be 'not only beautiful, but useful.' 'GPT‑4o image generation excels at accurately rendering text, precisely following prompts, and leveraging 4o's inherent knowledge base and chat context - including transforming uploaded images or using them as visual inspiration,' an OpenAI blog post stated. 'These capabilities make it easier to create exactly the image you envision, helping you communicate more effectively through visuals and advancing image generation into a practical tool with precision and power,' the post added.
Since its unveiling on March 25, one of the most popular ways the innovative new tech is being used has been the creation of images in the style of the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. The viral trend saw users from across the globe flood social media with images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation, which was founded by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki. ChatGPT users have since shared thousands of Studio Ghibli-style images on social media.
The Ghibli-style frenzy was so colossal that it strained the platform's servers and temporarily limited the feature's usage. The demand even forced OpenAI to introduce limits to the number of images people can create. 'It's super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT,' Altman said. 'But our GPUs are melting. We are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. 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,' the OpenAI co-founder added.
As a result of the interest, the chatbot was hit with a series of glitches and low-scale outages over the past week as it deals with a spike in traffic due to the popularity of its image-generating tool. '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,' the OpenAI co-founder said on Tuesday.
On Monday, OpenAI announced plans to further 'push the frontiers of AI research,' following a $40 billion funding round. The latest financing values the ChatGPT creator at $300 billion, making it one of the world's most valuable private companies. OpenAI added that ChatGPT had amassed 500 million users since its launch in November 2022.
However, the wildly-successful update has since led to questions and speculation about potential copyright violations. Copyright law has generally protected only specific expressions rather than artistic styles themselves,' Evan Brown, a partner at law firm Neal & McDevitt, told Reuters. Studio Ghibli founder Miyazaki's horrified comments on AI-generated images from 2016 have since resurfaced following the explosive online trend. 'I am utterly disgusted,' Miyazaki had said after being shown an early render of an AI-generated image. 'I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.'