Summary
- ChatGPT, credited with mainstreaming AI chatbots and reaching 100 million users in two months, has now rolled out its native GPT-4o-powered image generation capabilities to all free users, after an initial period limited to paid subscribers.
- The new free image generation feature, especially popular for producing Studio Ghibli-style art, among other styles, is currently rate-limited due to a large influx of users, with the daily generation cap for free users appearing to be two, possibly due to traffic.
- This expansion of free features follows significant financial growth for OpenAI, including a 30 percent revenue surge, reaching 20 million paid subscribers, and securing a $40 billion funding round that values the company at $300 billion.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT single-handedly kicked off the AI chatbot race. I’m not saying that AI tech wasn’t thriving before ChatGPT, but OpenAI’s tool clearly made the tech mainstream, with ChatGPT reaching a staggering 100 million users in only two months.
Since October 2023 at the very least, the AI giant has used its Dall-E 3 model to generate images right within ChatGPT, but that changed exactly a week ago when OpenAI rolled out native ChatGPT image generation capabilities.
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The Japanese Ghibli art-style images you’ve been seeing floating around on social media, alongside the subsequent backlash and concerns about copyright issues, are all thanks to ChatGPT’s new native image generator that is powered by GPT-4o.
Originally limited to users with a paid ChatGPT plan, native GPT-4o-powered image generation capabilities are now rolling out to non-paying users, and no, contrary to what our inner voice is whispering, this isn’t an elaborate April Fools’ Day joke.
Let the initial traffic subside before you give the tool a shot
Announced by CEO Sam Altman on X (Twitter), image generation support for the free tier has indeed rolled out — I see it on my account. With the large influx of users now trying to generate images, however, the capability is currently rate limited.
Additionally, while Altman had previously suggested that free-tier users will get three free image generations per day, users currently report being limited to two. It is unclear if that is the current traffic-induced rate limitation kicking in or the actual daily cap.
This comes on the heels of ChatGPT’s revenue surging by 30 percent, the AI tool reaching the 20 million paid subscriber mark (paywalled), and it securing a new $40 billion raise at a $300 billion valuation.
