The surge in demand for Ghibli-style AI art using ChatGPT’s image-generation tool led to a record spike in users for OpenAI’s chatbot last week, overwhelming its servers and temporarily restricting access to the feature. The viral trend witnessed people worldwide sharing images inspired by the signature hand-drawn style of Studio Ghibli, the renowned Japanese animation studio founded by director Hayao Miyazaki and known for films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. As a result, the average number of weekly active users surpassed 150 million for the first time this year, as per the data from market research company Similarweb.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced in an X post on Monday, “We added one million users in the last hour,” highlighting the rapid growth. He compared this to ChatGPT’s initial launch two years ago, when it took five days to reach the same milestone.

According to SensorTower data, active users, app downloads, and in-app subscription revenue hit a record high last week after the AI company introduced updates to its GPT-4o model, enhancing its image generation capabilities. Global app downloads for ChatGPT increased by 11%, while weekly active users grew by 5% compared to the previous week. Additionally, in-app purchase revenue saw a 6% rise, as reported by the market intelligence firm. However, the chatbot has experienced multiple glitches and minor outages over the past week, struggling to handle the surge in traffic driven by the popularity of its new image-generation feature.

“We are getting things under control, but you should expect new releases from OpenAI to be delayed, stuff to break, and for service to sometimes be slow as we deal with capacity challenges,” co-founder of the OpenAI stated on Tuesday.

Widespread use of the AI tool to create a Ghibli-like effect has raised concerns about possible copyright infringement.

“The legal landscape of AI-generated images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s distinctive style is an uncertain terrain. Copyright law has generally protected only specific expressions rather than artistic styles themselves,” stated law firm Neal & McDevitt partner Evan Brown.

OpenAI has yet to respond to inquiries regarding the data used to train its AI models and the legal concerns surrounding its latest feature. Meanwhile, comments made in 2016 by Studio Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki about AI-generated images have resurfaced after the trend gained widespread attention last week.

After seeing an early render of an AI-generated creation, Miyazaki strongly disapproved, saying, “I am utterly disgusted.” He firmly stated, “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”