OpenAI's Ghibli photo tool drives 'very crazy' growth, India leads ChatGPT adoption

OpenAI 's ChatGPT has experienced a dramatic surge in popularity following the introduction of its image generation capabilities, according to company COO Brad Lightcap. Users created more than 700 million images in a single week after the feature's release. The remarkable growth has been fueled largely by the AI chatbot's new photo generation tool, which many users have employed to create images in the distinctive style of Studio Ghibli images .

Describing the initial week as “very crazy,” Lightcap highlighted the demand for the new feature.

“Very crazy first week for images in ChatGPT - over 130M users have generated 700M+ (!) images since last Tuesday,” he stated.

very crazy first week for images in chatgpt - over 130M users have generated 700M+ (!) images since last tuesday

India is now our fastest growing chatgpt market 💪🇮🇳

the range of visual creativity has been extremely inspiring

we appreciate your patience as we try to serve…

— Brad Lightcap (@bradlightcap) April 3, 2025

India is our fastest growing ChatGPT market: OpenAI COO
OpenAI revealed that India has emerged as its fastest-growing market for ChatGPT.

“India is now our fastest growing ChatGPT market 💪🇮🇳,” the company announced, adding that “the range of visual creativity has been extremely inspiring”.

Not only the COO, company CEO Sam Altman also praised creativity in India.

“what's happening with ai adoption in india right now is amazing to watch. we love to see the explosion of creativity--india is outpacing the world,” he added.

what's happening with ai adoption in india right now is amazing to watch.

we love to see the explosion of creativity--india is outpacing the world.

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 2, 2025

The COO also acknowledged the challenges posed by the overwhelming demand and appealed for user patience.

“We appreciate your patience as we try to serve everyone, team continues to work around the clock,” he added.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says company GPUs are melting
When the Ghibli-style AI trend took over, the company CEO Altman said that use of its AI chatbot is ‘melting’ their GPUs.

In a Twitter post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote, “It’s awesome to see people enjoying images in ChatGPT, but our GPUs are overheating. We’re rolling out some temporary rate limits while we optimize things—shouldn’t take too long! Soon, the free tier of ChatGPT will get 3 generations daily.”

it's super fun seeing people love images in chatgpt.

but our GPUs are melting.

we are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. hopefully won't be long!

chatgpt free tier will get 3 generations per day soon.

— Sam Altman (@sama) March 27, 2025