Despite not adhering to all ethical guidelines, the latest updated version of ChatGPT has fallen victim to its own success. Since its most recent update on Wednesday, OpenAI’s generative AI interface has made it possible to produce images inspired by the Studio Ghibli style. This new feature, introduced without a licensing agreement with the renowned Japanese animation film creator, has reignited the debate over using content to develop such software. Nevertheless, it has been hugely popular among users.

Perhaps a bit too popular, according to OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. “Could you please calm down with generating images? Our team needs sleep,” he jokingly requested from ChatGPT users in a message posted on X on Sunday morning, March 30. On Thursday, he had already announced the temporary introduction of a limit on the use of this new feature, without providing further details. “It’s super fun to see people enjoying images in ChatGPT, but our GPUs are melting,” he said, referring to graphics processors responsible for image computation—without even mentioning the environmental cost of these operations.

It was already possible to generate images with ChatGPT, but the updated model, or program (GPT-4o), on which the interface relies, now allows for more sophisticated results from very succinct prompts—something that was not previously possible. GPT-4o differs from earlier algorithm versions because it can “reason” by breaking down the request into steps rather than producing an instantaneous result. The latest version of ChatGPT, released on Wednesday, also offers more relevant image iterations based on ongoing interactions with the user.

OpenAI initially stated that the new model would be available to all ChatGPT users, whether they were paying or not, but Sam Altman announced a delay for the free version. “ChatGPT images are in much higher demand than we anticipated (and we had high expectations),” he wrote on X on Wednesday to justify the delay.

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