Ghibli-inspired viral feature drives record ChatGPT usage - The...
The frenzy to create Ghibli-style AI art using ChatGPT’s image-generation tool led to a record surge in users for OpenAI’s chatbot last week, straining its servers and temporarily limiting the feature’s usage.
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 outfit, Studio Ghibli, founded by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki and known for movies such as Spirited Away and My neighbour Totoro.
Average weekly active users breached the 150 million mark for the first time this year, according to data from market research firm Similarweb.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned, "We added one million users in the last hour," comparing it with the addition of one million users in five days following ChatGPT’s launch more than two years ago.
Record Numbers
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Active users, in-app subscription revenue, and app downloads reached an all-time high last week, according to SensorTower data, after the AI company launched updates to its GPT-4o model, enabling advanced image generation capabilities.
Global app downloads and weekly active users on the ChatGPT app grew 11% and 5%, respectively, from the prior week, while in-app purchase revenue increased by 6%, the market intelligence firm said.
Challenges Faced
However, the chatbot has faced glitches and low-scale outages over the past week due to a spike in traffic from the popularity of its image-generating tool.
The extensive usage of the AI tool for the Ghibli effect has raised questions about potential copyright violations. Evan Brown, a partner at law firm Neal & McDevitt, commented on the legal uncertainties surrounding AI-generated images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s style.
Studio Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki’s comments from 2016 on AI-generated images resurfaced after the trend gained momentum last week. He expressed his disapproval of incorporating such technology into his work.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to queries regarding the data used to train its AI models and the legal aspects of its latest feature.
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