OpenAIs ChatGPT faces global outage amid Studio Ghibli-style image craze – The Tribune-OxBig News Network

OpenAI’s ChatGPT faced a significant global outage on Sunday, disrupting services for users attempting to create Studio Ghibli-inspired animated avatars.

The issue, which affected ChatGPT’s web platform, led to widespread errors across both the app and API services.

According to DownDetector, a website that tracks outages, at least 229 users reported disruptions, with 59% of complaints linked to ChatGPT.

The outage occurred just as OpenAI’s latest update, allowing users to generate images in the iconic hand-drawn style of Studio Ghibli, had gone viral. The feature, introduced with ChatGPT-4o, lets users transform photos into magical visuals reminiscent of films like “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”.

The demand for these Ghibli-style creations surged, causing strain on OpenAI’s infrastructure.

According to a Mint report, OpenAI acknowledged the issue at 4:40 pm, writing, “We’re currently experiencing issues” and explaining that users were facing elevated errors. The platform reassured users, stating that it was actively working on a solution. About 30 minutes later, OpenAI confirmed that all impacted services had been restored and said a detailed Root Cause Analysis (RCA) will be published within five business days.

Meanwhile, the surge in image generation demand prompted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to humorously comment on the overwhelming volume.

In a post on X, Altman wrote, “Can yall please chill on generating images this is insane our team needs sleep”.

can yall please chill on generating images this is insane our team needs sleep

— Sam Altman (@sama) March 30, 2025

“We just haven’t been able to catch up since launch so people are still working to keep the service up…biblical demand, i have never seen anything like it”, he added.