OpenAI Faces Product Delays Amid Surge in Demand for Image Generation Tool
OpenAI is grappling with significant infrastructure challenges following the explosive popularity of its new image-generation tool in ChatGPT. CEO Sam Altman took to X to address the ongoing issues, warning users to expect delays and occasional disruptions as the company works to scale up its systems.
Altman wrote, “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”
Image Generation Tool Fuels Rapid Growth and Growing Pains
The recently launched image-generation feature has drawn widespread attention for its ability to mimic styles like Studio Ghibli’s iconic animation. However, the popularity has overwhelmed OpenAI’s infrastructure, with Altman noting the team has been working late nights and through the weekend to maintain uptime.
In a post, Altman revealed that ChatGPT gained one million new users in just one hour. The AI platform now serves 500 million weekly users and boasts 20 million paying subscribers, which is a sharp rise from 300 million users and 15.5 million subscribers reported at the end of 2024.
Also read: Retym Raises $180M to Drive Next-Gen AI Infrastructure with Programmable DSP Technology
Temporary Rollbacks to Alleviate Pressure
To mitigate the strain, OpenAI has temporarily delayed the rollout of the image-generation tool to free-tier users and suspended video creation capabilities for new users of Sora, the company’s generative media suite. These measures are intended to stabilize performance as the team scales up capacity to meet surging demand.
Despite the setbacks, Altman reassured users that OpenAI is working diligently to improve service reliability. “Working as fast as we can to really get stuff humming,” he posted.
