Last week, OpenAI surprised everyone by announcing the integration of a new image generator into ChatGPT. Simply named "Images in ChatGPT," it leverages GPT-40's multimodal capabilities to create accurate and successful images.
The Image Generator's Monstrous Success
This new generator has experienced a colossal surge in popularity. Many Internet users began creating images inspired by many popular studios, starting with Ghibli. Social media was quickly flooded with productions powered by generative AI. According to CEO Sam Altman, the generator's success quickly overloaded OpenAI's servers. On his X account, the executive stated that the group's servers are "melting" and asked users to "calm down while generating images" because his teams "need sleep." OpenAI didn't expect the generator to be so popular. In an attempt to preserve its servers, OpenAI has implemented a series of restrictions. While opening the generator to all users, the startup has limited the number of images free users can create daily. The maximum number of creations is set at three images per day. OpenAI has even imposed limits on its paying subscribers. The firm is forcing its customers to wait several minutes after creating a few images with ChatGPT.
ChatGPT experiences an outage
Despite the restrictions imposed, ChatGPT continues to suffer from the arrival of its new image generator. Since the feature's deployment, the AI has been noticeably slower. Responses take longer to appear on our computer or smartphone screen. We've noticed a multitude of slowdowns over the past few days, including with a paid plan. We've also encountered several error messages.
A week after the generator's deployment, ChatGPT even crashed. On Wednesday, April 2, 2025, the chatbot became inaccessible for millions of users worldwide. Typically, ChatGPT was able to respond to the first message in a conversation, but would stall or display an error message on a second request. Additionally, the image generator wasn't working. ChatGPT consistently reported that "something went wrong". OpenAI quickly confirmed that an outage was affecting its AI service via its website:
The outage lasted a few hours. By the evening of April 2, everything was back to normal. Prior to the outage, Sam Altman had admitted that ChatGPT was expecting some disruptions for a while. The CEO indicated that he was "under control, but you should expect new OpenAI releases to be delayed, things to not work, and the service to be slow at times as we work through capacity issues." He added that his teams are working "as fast as possible to really get things working."
A Good Thing for OpenAI
With 150 million weekly active users, ChatGPT is starting to become a victim of its own success. For Jefferies analysts, the AI generator boom has likely inflated the growth of ChatGPT Plus's subscriber base. In a note relayed by Business Insider, the financial experts presume that "ChatGPT user growth likely indicates ChatGPT Plus growth, meaning revenue growth for OpenAI." In short, the image generator, which went viral on social media, has made money for the startup.
We're betting that OpenAI will be able to solve the operational problems of its generative AI by investing in its servers. To finance the improvement of its infrastructure, OpenAI will also be able to draw on the money raised during its last funding round. The company has in fact raised $40 billion from investors, including Softbank, bringing its total valuation to $300 billion.
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