ChatGPT-4o’s viral Ghibli effect forced OpenAI to pump the brakes on new features, according to Sam Altman

Over the past few years, we’ve watched history unfold in the AI era whenever OpenAI unveils next-gen AI products. The ChatGPT maker has hit several viral moments with its latest win being tied to its spanking new GPT-4o image generator, which sponsored the millions of Ghibli memes shared on social media.

However, the hype came with its fair share of challenges, including a delayed rollout of the image generator to free users.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joked that the hype building around the tool melted the company’s GPUs, prompting it to temporarily introduce rate limits as it mitigated the issue. The executive pleaded with users to dial down their image generations, claiming OpenAI’s team needs a breather and time to rest.

Interestingly, the “biblical demand” for GPT-4o’s Ghibli memes saw ChatGPT add one million more users in less than an hour. This can be attributed to the image generator’s photorealistic images compared to other tools like DALL-E 3 image generation technology.

Sam Altman admitted that the ChatGPT maker was compelled to take unnatural measures to handle the viral Ghibli effect. While the executive didn’t exactly reveal what these measures were, he recently shed more light on the matter in a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang while talking about OpenAI’s future, Stargate, and robots.

The executive referred to the viral moments that seemingly keep on hitting OpenAI as “unusual.” “I don’t think this has happened to any company before,” added Altman. “I’ve seen viral moments, but I’ve never seen anyone have to deal with an influx of usage like this.”

Altman admits that generating an image using the company’s new image generator isn’t a low compute task, which prompted OpenAI to do a lot of natural things, including:

• Borrowing compute capacity from OpenAI’s research division
• Slow down the release of features.

“It’s not like we have hundreds of thousands of GPUs sitting around just like spinning idly,” added Altman. He further claimed that if OpenAI had more GPUs, it would be able to better handle demand surges. As such, the company wouldn’t be compel to resort to extreme restrictions like rate limits and delayed shipment to free users.

Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.