OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Shares Key Update for 'Ghibli' Users

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has an important update for Studio 'Ghibli' users and fans. In a series of Twitter posts, CEO Altman of ChatGPT announced that the overwhelming popularity of the company's new ChatGPT image-generation tool will result in unspecified product delays. The surge in demand has put a strain on the company's infrastructure, prompting Altman to warn users of slower service and potential disruptions while OpenAI works to address capacity issues.

"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," says Altman. He emphasized that the team is "working as fast as we can to really get stuff humming," even appealing for more GPU capacity in a follow-up post: "If anyone has GPU capacity in 100k chunks we can get asap, please call!"

ChatGPT receives a million downloads in one hour

The announcement comes after a weekend of unprecedented growth for ChatGPT. Altman disclosed that on Monday, March 31, the platform added a million new users in a single hour, increasing its weekly user base to 500 million and its number of paying subscribers to 20 million. By the end of 2024, those numbers had risen from 300 million and 15.5 million, respectively. Rapid adoption has been fueled by the new image-generation feature, which has generated controversy as well as widespread acclaim for its ability to mimic styles like Studio Ghibli's famous hand-drawn animation.

Over the weekend, Altman admitted that OpenAI "hasn't been able to catch up" since the tool's release, with staff working late nights and weekends to maintain service stability. To alleviate the strain, the company has postponed the image-generation tool's release to free ChatGPT users and temporarily disabled video generation for new Sora users, its generative AI media suite.

Sam Altman's posts indicate a full-court press to resolve the issues, but no specific timeline for new releases was provided. As the company navigates this rapid expansion, users can expect a bumpy ride as OpenAI races to scale its infrastructure.