The internet has been overflowing with users sharing their photographs, iconic memes, and film stills in quintessential Studio Ghibli style. Users have generated these Ghibli-style images using OpenAI’s ChatGPT. From Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities to politicians, almost every user is hopping on the trend.

Users are generating these images using OpenAI’s new 40-image generator with just a few prompts. Within a matter of seconds, the tool generates an image resonating with the studio’s artistic style. Since the trend took over social media, several users generated numerous images. From popular memes, film stills, and photos of themselves, to other historic moments, a Ghibli version is making way for everything. Following the trend going viral, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman teased a new version of the image generator.

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After the trend gained momentum, Altman hinted at a new version which could take the image generator’s power to an all-new high. Taking to X, he posted, “Y’all are not ready for images v2…” However, he subsequently clarified that the rollout would take time. Altman also revealed that OpenAI’s GPUs were melting owing to the massive traffic due to excessive image generation. “We are bringing things under control, but you can expect OpenAI new releases to be late, things to break, and for service to occasionally be slow as we grapple with capacity issues.” While OpenAI has promised an upgrade, competitors like Grok and Gemini are yet to respond.

y’all are not ready for images v2…

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 1, 2025

After GPT-4o generated Ghibli-style images went viral, Grok and Gemini also jumped into the game. Several free OpenAI users  who were initially unable to leverage the image tool, moved to alternatives.

Even though these tools also saw an influx as the trend started going viral, users couldn’t rely on simple prompts like ‘Ghibilify this.’ Reportedly, when users enter the simple command in Gemini, they receive a message relaying non-availability. “I’m sorry, I cannot do that. The function required to apply the ‘Ghibli’ style to your image is not available right now.” This suggests that Google’s Imagen 3 model, which powers Gemini’s image generation, lacks the artistic flexibility seen in OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Reportedly, users need detailed prompts to generate the desired results. On the other hand, several users also turned to xAI’s Grok to generate the images. While the platform is responding to the prompt, the resultant image is not as vibrant as OpenAI’s results.

Also Read: Ghibli trend: OpenAI’s Sam Altman responds to Hayao Miyazaki’s “insult to life” remark

While these platforms are doing the job, the resulting images aren’t as refined. To make the images more akin to the studio’s style, users have to point out specifications like the softness of the lines and the colour palette.