ChatGPT Down: OpenAI’s ChatGPT is facing a global outage, affecting users attempting to create Studio Ghibli-styled animated avatars and causing widespread errors across its app and API services. Meanwhile, the OpenAI has acknowledged the issue, stating, “We’re currently experiencing issues,” and confirmed that it is actively working on a resolution. The company, backed by Microsoft, is addressing the disruption to restore normal functionality.
According to DownDetector, a platform that tracks online service outages, hundreds of users reported issues with OpenAI’s services, with most complaints focused on ChatGPT. Whether it’s Instagram or X (formerly Twitter), feeds are flooded with stunning Studio Ghibli-style portraits. In just 48 hours, people have turned everything—from classic Bollywood scenes to viral memes—into Japanese anime-inspired art.
The outage also prompted a response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In a post on X, Altman asked users to “chill” on generating these images, citing the strain on the company’s resources: “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
This viral trend took off after OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o introduced a new feature that allows users to not only create images but also transform their own pictures into anime-style masterpieces. However, this feature is only available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Select subscribers. Free users can generate up to three animated images. However, since OpenAI restricts ChatGPT’s image generation for both free and paid users, the expected output is a short video, better suited for a GIF format.
How To Create Unlimited Ghibli-Style Images For Free Using ChatGPT
Step 1: Open the OpenAI ChatGPT website or app.
Step 2: Upload your preferred image or generate a new one by providing context to ChatGPT.
Step 3: Ask ChatGPT to ‘Ghiblify’ the image or transform it into a Studio Ghibli-style theme.
Step 4: Wait a few seconds to get the desired Ghibli-styled image.