'Our GPUs are melting': OpenAI puts restrictions on new ChatGPT image generation tool

ChatGPT's new image generation tool is so popular that parent company OpenAI has to put in place "temporary" limits on how many are generated.

OpenAI released a new version of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT this week that lets users transform popular Internet memes or personal photos into the style of Studio Ghibli, a famous Japanese animation studio.

"It's super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT, but our GPUs are melting," CEO Sam Altman posted on X on Thursday, not specifying what the restricted rate will be but that it "hopefully" won't be in place for very long.

While users love the new feature, it has raised ethical questions about how AI tools train on copyrighted creative works, including the designs of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki.

Taking a 'conservative approach'

In a technical paper posted on Tuesday, the company had said the new tool would be taking a "conservative approach" in the way it mimics the aesthetics of individual artists.

"We added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist," it said.

But the company added in a statement that it "permits broader studio styles - which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations".

OpenAI is already facing other copyright battles from some American newspapers for using their content to train ChatGPT.

Josh Weigensberg, a partner at the law firm Pryor Cashman, told the Associated Press that one question the Ghibli-style AI art raises is whether the AI model was trained on Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli’s work.

That in turn "raises the question of, ‘Well, do they have a license or permission to do that training or not?'" he said.

Weigensberg added that if a work was licensed for training, it might make sense for a company to permit this type of use. But if this type of use is happening without consent and compensation, he said, it could be "problematic".

Euronews Next contacted OpenAI to see whether they have a license or permission to use Studio Ghibli's work to train their AI but did not receive an immediate reply.

Artist Karla Ortiz, who grew up watching Miyazaki’s movies and is suing other AI image generators for copyright infringement in a case that’s still pending, called it "another clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the work of artists and the livelihoods of artists".

"That’s using Ghibli’s branding, their name, their work, their reputation, to promote (OpenAI) products," Ortiz said. "It’s an insult. It’s exploitation".

'This is an insult to life itself'

Altman and the official White House got into the trend, posting a Ghibli-fied display picture and a rendering of a detained migrant on their X accounts.

Users used the new tool to give a Ghibli style to iconic images like the Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec that went viral at the 2024 Olympics.

"Disaster Girl," where a four-year-old turns to the camera with a small smile as a house burns in the background, is one example of a meme that had been given the effect.

Ghibli hasn't commented on the new ChatGPT tool yet, but Miyazaki has made previous comments on AI animation.

When Miyazaki was shown an AI demo in 2016, he said he was "utterly disgusted" by the display, according to documentary footage of the interaction.

Miyazaki said he would "never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all".

"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," he added.