By India McCarty
ChatGPT added 1 million new users in just one hour after implementing its new AI image generation feature.
“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,” OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman posted on X. “we added one million users in the last hour.”
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 (@sama) March 31, 2025
These claims were backed up by a report from Business Insider that stated during the week of March 24, ChatGPT’s weekly downloads, active users and subscription revenues increased 11%, 5% and 6%, respectively.
Compared to the same week last year, app downloads and in-app purchases were up over 500%.
OpenAI launched their latest ChaptGPT feature to help users generate “beautiful, but useful” images, logos and diagrams.
“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,” a blog post from the company stated.
They explained that these tools will make it easier to “create exactly the image you envision” and help you “communicate more effectively through visuals.”
GRP-4o is vastly popular with users around the world, so popular, in fact, that Altman claims the heavy use is “melting” OpenAI’s servers.
“it’s super fun seeing people love images in chatgpt. but our GPUs are melting,” he posted on X, adding in a follow-up post, “can yall please chill on generating images this is insane our team needs sleep.”
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.
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 27, 2025
One of the most popular AI trends? Images generated in the style of popular animation studio Studio Ghibli.
While the trend continues to be popular online, 2016 comments from Ghibli’s founder Hayao Miyazaki about the use of AI are also going viral.
After being shown an AI demonstration, Miyazaki said he was “utterly disgusted” by the technology, adding, “I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting.”
Miyazaki said he would “never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all” and called the tech “an insult to life itself.”
The Studio Ghibli trend has also opened up a conversation about possible copyright infringement.
Artist Karla Ortiz, who is currently suing other AI image generators in a copyright infringement case that is still pending, told AP News that the Ghibli trend is just “another clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the work of artists and the livelihoods of artists.”
“That’s using Ghibli’s branding, their name, their work, their reputation, to promote (OpenAI) products,” she explained. “It’s an insult. It’s exploitation.”
As AI continues to become more commonplace and concerns arise over how it’s being trained, it’s clear that regulations must be put in place to keep the tech from unfairly stealing artists’ work.
Read Next: Studio Co-Founder Calls AI ‘Insult To Life Itself’ As AI Imitations Of His Work Go Viral
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