It's the battle of the AIs, and as Grok and ChatGPT go head-to-head, only one will likely come out on top. Since its introduction in November 2022, ChatGPT has helped spur the AI argument forward in terms of the moral and ethical stance of using these systems.
Some just want to use ChatGPT for a little fun instead of watching humans get replaced and watching the world burn, with its recent boost to generative image creation being marked as a landmark moment.
By now, you've surely seen the trend of people turning themselves into Studio Ghibli characters, replicating the adorable style of Hayao Miyazaki. OpenAI initially kept this advanced image generation behind paid tiers due to massive demand, but with everyone now free to Ghiblify themselves, CEO Sam Altman has warned about 'melting' GPUs.
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The image generation software was originally rolled out on March 25 under the GPT-4o model, but now that it's free for all, the floodgates are open again.
As you dashed to turn yourself into Totoro, ChatGPT picked up a million new users in just one hour.
When the image generation first launched, Altman warned: "It's super fun seeing people love images in chatgpt. but our GPUs are melting. we are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. hopefully won't be long! chatgpt free tier will get 3 generations per day soon."
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Things haven't seemed to have died out, and referring to 'biblical demand', Altman took to X to plea: "Can yall please chill on generating images this is insane our team needs sleep."
Even the man himself has a Ghibli profile picture, which won't exactly help the trend die down.
Over on Reddit, Altman was accused of being the tool of his own demise as one critic wrote: "You gave a meme addicted society a meme machine... it's just junkies overdosing."
Another added: "I live for his sassy teenage girl attitude."
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A third said: "Chill on making AI images… Says the person whose headshot was made using said model in the Studio Ghibli style."
Unfortunately, it might not just be GPUs that are in danger of melting here.
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We've previously been warned about the potential environmental impact of ChatGPT, with a 2023 article from Earth.org highlighting the carbon emissions of Large Language Models (LLMs) and claiming that around 700,000 liters of water were used to cool the computers that trained ChatGPT-3 at Microsoft.
Part of the recent influx of interest in ChatGPT is because its image-generation software is now integrated under GPT-4o instead of relying on external sources like DALL-E 3.
Still, we doubt Miyazaki is happy with this one, as comments from a 2016 documentary have recently resurfaced. Back then, the Ghibli co-founder was shown a crude AI video where a body was dragging itself by the head and Miyazaki was told how AI could "present us grotesque movements that we humans can’t imagine."
Miyazaki went on to tell a story about how he knew a disabled person who was in pain simply when trying to perform a high five, adding: "Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting.”
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Referring to the AI's 'potential', he concluded: "Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted… I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."
With ChatGPT's Ghibli influx, there are also questions about copyright and the fact that OpenAI is 'openly' ripping off Studio Ghibli's signature style. For many, Altman's melting GPUs are the least of their concerns.