A new update to OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been generating images in a style inspired by the Studio Ghibli movies, and ever since activity has been remarkably high. A feature that allows users to create images in the style of popular Japanese animation studio Your Name has gone viral on social media, and led to thousands of users converging on the site.
Now, their growth is dramatic and putting strain on the servers
We have seen a record number of ChatGPT users since there has been demand for the Ghibli-style image generation tool to prove and play with its demand. According to data from the market research firm SimilarWeb, the average number of weekly active users exceeded 150 million this year for the first time. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman raised an alarm that user sign-ups were, no kidding, going through the roof, announcing within the hour that one million new accounts had been added. Such a rate of growth resembles the initial explosion after the chatbot’s launch more than two years ago.
The added traffic has placed a heavy load on OpenAI’s servers, causing occasional glitches and short interruptions of service. The company acknowledged these capacity problems and said it had been working to stabilise its services. But users have been cautioned to expect some delays in new releases and occasional slowness within the service as the company struggles to keep up with surging demand.
Its active users, in-app subscription revenue, and app downloads all set records last week, according to Sensor Tower. ChatGPT app’s global download came in at 11% higher week-on-week with weekly active users inching up by 5%. In-app purchase revenue increased 6% as well.
How image generation works like in Ruffus from Amazon
This active user growth is attributed to the latest upgrades in OpenAI’s GPT-4o language model, but this newly added advanced imaging capabilities are behind the growth now. One of the trends was users rendering images in the style of the Japanese film studio Ghibli, whose credits include the films “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbour Totoro.” A viral trend that had users sharing those images on social media sparked intense interest in the tool.
The Gizmo effect has become a popular way of creatively using the A.I. tool, and the new capability for generating images is a major expansion of the purpose of the tool. There is also an image generating ability to it which has, so far, been almost universally well received and is still in use.
The Legal Forms and the Copyright Effects
Studio Ghibli’s bed floormat-worthy landscape paintings that have been running riot online in the form of AI-generated pictures. And A.I.-generated content has presented a complicated and consequential area of copyright law, legal experts have said. Although copyright law provides protection for specific embodiments of creativity (not for artistic styles), the use of AI to harness a unique artistic style presents a new legal problem.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what data was used to train its A.I. models or on the legality of its image generation feature. Copyright and intellectual property laws for using AI-generated images are also still developing as more clarity is expected as the tech matures.
Hayao Miyazaki’s comments on AI imagery are making the rounds following this recent fad — one of which was popped by Miyazaki himself, who specializes in fantastical hand-drawn animation. Mr. Miyazaki has also been vocal about his reservations towards A.I., notably in 2016, when he said A.I. was dangerous to creative people. His statements are part of an ongoing discussion — both in and out of the art world — about AI’s role in artistic production and what it means for notions of copyright and intellectual property.
Changes to Operations and Outlook
OpenAI has acknowledged having a tough time managing the surge in user traffic and is working to address the capacity issues. While the company further claims that it is compensating for the horrible situation it created, there still may be delays and ordered services that are not going to be delivered on time.
The company added that it would keep improving its services and managing user demand. Currently we are having a load in server and working right now to made system more efficient. The company is working to manage the increase in service traffic. The company is working to ensure the continued stability of its platform.
Usage volume exploded between October 2022 and now, highlighting the sheer popularity and potential that AI-powered tools for image generation will likely have. That Ghibli effect has demonstrated not just the creative potential of AI, but also the demand for these new features! The company says it is seeking to improve the user experience.
And so this, apart from that, is making it very clear, the commitment for the users is a reliable service and an efficient one. The company has said it was in the process of restoring the system. The company has said that it is attempting to improve the platform.
