After OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot 'ChatGPT' expanded its capabilities from text-based to image generation, more than 700 million images were created worldwide within a week. Amid explosive reactions, with some saying that "the GPU (graphics processing unit) is melting down," OpenAI has launched a full-scale response to manage the surge in demand.
Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer of OpenAI, noted on X (formerly Twitter) on the 3rd that "the number of people using the new image generation feature has already surpassed 130 million, and the results they have produced have exceeded 700 million," adding that "the team is responding around the clock to handle the overwhelming demand." Analysts in the industry say that "the evolution of ChatGPT, which had been limited to simple text, into 'multimodal AI' has led to an exponential increase in users."
The rapid spread of the image generation feature has been attributed to its ability to freely apply specific art styles, such as 'Ghibli style' and 'Disney style.' Unique AI profile pictures and various parody images have been flooding social media, stimulating user curiosity, and servers are experiencing overload to the extent that response delays and connection errors are common.
Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, lamented at a recent conference that "the speed of user growth is so rapid that we are struggling with cloud infrastructure and GPU supply." On the 1st, he requested through social media, "If there are companies that can secure 100,000 GPUs, please contact us quickly," effectively sending an urgent 'blood transfusion' request. This indicates a dire need for large-scale computing resources to cope with the overwhelming workload of image generation.
Thanks to this popularity, OpenAI officially announced that the number of users for its flagship model ChatGPT exceeded 500 million as of the end of last month. This is a more than 30% increase from 350 million users at the end of last year, achieved in just three months. Furthermore, the company successfully secured an investment of $40 billion (approximately 58 trillion won) from SoftBank, led by Masayoshi Son, raising its corporate value to approximately $300 billion (about 432 trillion won).
However, there are significant concerns about copyright infringement behind this explosive growth. There have been ongoing claims that AI may violate copyright by imitating the styles of specific artists or animation studios without authorization. Although Ghibli has yet to issue an official statement, the past strong aversion of director Hayao Miyazaki towards AI-generated works is being reexamined. In the United States, the Writers Guild has been engaged in a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI since 2023, claiming that the company "misused copyrighted works for unauthorized training."
OpenAI has stated that it will approach the use of diverse styles with an open attitude while respecting creators' rights.