OpenAI has officially made its advanced image generation tool, powered by the GPT-4o model, available to all users, including those on the free tier. This announcement was made by CEO Sam Altman in a post on X. Earlier, the tool was only available to pay users of ChatGPT, but now it is open to everyone, although there could be some usage restrictions for free tier users. Although details are not certain, Altman said last week that free-tier users would be able to create up to three images a day.

The roll out of the image making tool has had an unprecedented response, with Altman reporting that interest was so intense that the GPUs of the company were put under strain, or as he called it, "melting." The tool made a quick impact, with users particularly loving it for how it could change pictures into the iconic style of Studio Ghibli, a legendary Japanese animation company. This has raised some concerns about copyright issues and the data used to train the model, especially due to the striking similarity of some generated images to Ghibli’s artistic style.

But the image creation tool has also been controversial for being used inappropriately. Some people have used it to generate fake documents, including restaurant bills. OpenAI has since explained that all images generated using the tool have metadata that shows they were produced by ChatGPT. The firm has said that it actively monitors and takes action if any generated content is against its guidelines.

On a related note, OpenAI also revealed that it has secured 40 billion in funding, led by SoftBank, which has contributed to the company’s increased valuation of  300 billion. In addition, OpenAI’s flagship product, ,ChatGPT has now reached an impressive milestone of 500 million weekly active users and 700 million monthly active users, reflecting its growing popularity and widespread adoption.