The image generation artificial intelligence (AI) model has gained explosive popularity, with the daily user count for ChatGPT in Korea reaching 1.2 million for the first time.
According to data from the data platform corporation IG Works, as of the 27th of last month, the daily active user count (DAU) for ChatGPT in Korea hit a record high of 1,252,925. This is an increase of about 56% compared to the DAU of 799,571 on the 1st of last month.
The surge in users is attributed to the release of OpenAI's new image generation AI model 'ChatGPT-4o Image Generation' on the 25th of last month.
Since the model was made public, ChatGPT users around the world have been generating images in the styles of popular animations such as Disney and The Simpsons and posting them on social media (SNS), creating buzz.
The most popular style is that of Studio Ghibli, a representative Japanese animation studio, seen in works like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl's Moving Castle.'
Sam Altman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, also changed his profile picture on his X (formerly Twitter) account to a Ghibli-style image.
This model is an image generation model combined with OpenAI's multimodal AI model 'ChatGPT-4o,' generating images by understanding the user's intent without the need to input commands one by one.
As demand for image generation using ChatGPT surges, side effects and concerns are also following. CEO Altman noted that the servers are experiencing overload. He said, "It's really enjoyable to see people love the image model," but added, "The graphics processing unit (GPU) is melting down." This indicates that the servers are overloaded to the point of GPUs melting due to the influx of users. Concerns about copyright infringement due to specific content styles and the generation of content containing hate speech are also increasing.