The recent rollout of ChatGPT’s image-generation feature, which enables users to create Ghibli-style artwork, has caused a significant surge in the platform’s usage. This viral trend quickly captured the attention of social media users worldwide, pushing OpenAI’s servers to their limits. The excitement surrounding the ability to generate hand-drawn, Studio Ghibli-inspired images sent waves of activity through the platform, leading to temporary restrictions on the feature’s availability as OpenAI worked to manage the flood of requests.
Studio Ghibli, renowned for its enchanting animation style in films like “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro,” has inspired a dedicated global fanbase. This fandom recently found a new outlet through ChatGPT’s AI art generator, allowing them to recreate the iconic look of these films in a digital format. As users eagerly shared their Ghibli-style creations on social media, the trend quickly gained momentum, capturing the imagination of both old fans and newcomers alike.
As a result of this viral activity, ChatGPT saw its weekly active users reach unprecedented levels. For the first time this year, the platform exceeded 150 million active users, according to data from market research firm Similarweb. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman celebrated the growth, noting that the platform added a million users in just one hour, a sharp contrast to the pace of one million new users in five days during ChatGPT’s initial explosive launch two years ago.
This surge in usage had far-reaching effects. In addition to record-breaking user activity, both app downloads and in-app subscription revenue saw significant increases. SensorTower data highlighted a 11 percent jump in global app downloads and a 5 percent rise in weekly active users compared to the previous week. In-app purchase revenue also grew by 6 percent, indicating that the enhanced capabilities of GPT-4o, particularly in the realm of image generation, have sparked even more interest in ChatGPT’s premium offerings.