The deluge was so overwhelming that OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, had to slam the brakes on the free-tier rollout, admitting the feature's popularity exceeded their expectations.
Altman himself couldn't resist jumping on the bandwagon, swapping his profile picture for a Ghibli-esque version and quipping about the unexpected frenzy.
Meanwhile, the cocaine-nose jobs of Wall Street executives are likely scratching their heads, wondering how turning selfies into anime has become the pinnacle of AI advancement.
Neal & McDevitt intellectual property lawyer Evan Brown told TechCrunch that ChatGPT users using the GPT-4o-powered product to generate Studio Ghibli-style photos technically is not breaking the law because “style is not explicitly protected by copyright.” However, it does lie in a legally grey area.
An OpenAI spokesperson told the publication in a statement that ChatGPT can emulate a studio’s style but not the style of an individual artist.
The AI company appears to be covering its bases by removing the GPT -4o update from its ChatGPT free tier until it determines its next move.
The Verge noted that the new GPT-4o reasoning model uses a method called the “autoregressive approach” to generate images, which develops the image from left to right and top to bottom instead of all at once.
This aids accuracy and realism when generating images. AI text on older models is known for being either blurry or gibberish, whereas GPT -4o text can generate sharp and coherent text. OpenAI told the Wall Street Journal that it subjected the reasoning model to human-directed post-launch training to identify common errors in text and image designs.
There have been many AI trends based on popular designs. One older trend from late 2023 allowed users to generate Funko Pop! figures in Microsoft Designer with a few simple prompts.
While the central premise of this trend was to make figures of themselves, many people made Funko Pop! figures of notable people, such as Elon [Roman Salute], Musk and Beyonce. Similarly, this trend highlighted the legal restraints that can arise when trying to have fun with AI online. You had to input specific nickname workarounds, such as “Elon X” and “Queen Bey,” with proper descriptions of the characters to generate your desired results.
For now, only the paying customers of ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team can continue their Ghibli-inspired escapades, while free users are left waiting for the next AI gimmick to go viral.
