How OpenAI’s image tool is changing creativity online

In March, OpenAI launched its latest image-generation tool in ChatGPT, sparking a fresh wave of creative experimentation across the internet and artificial intelligence more generally. The OpenAI tool can generate everything from infographics, business cards and stock photos to highly customised art portraits, edited professional headshots or even political cartoons using either a text prompt or an uploaded image as a starting point.

It’s already gone viral, particularly for its ability to turn photos into cartoon/anime style graphics. Social platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have been flooded with user-created images and memes which even sparked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to swap his profile photo for one made with the tool. “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT,” he posted on X before later admitting that their GPUs are melting due to the number of requests being put into the system. To limit these issues while it adopts stronger methods ChatGPT has temporarily limited usage as it works to improve the feature’s efficiency.

This comes at a pivotal moment for OpenAI, which is racing ahead in the generative AI space despite intensifying competition. Elon Musk’s xAI, a direct rival, recently acquired social media platform X, further tightening the race between AI development and real-time user platforms. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI back in 2015, is also in the middle of a legal battle with the company over its transition to a for-profit model, a shift that was recently upheld by US federal courts.

In February, Musk led a $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, which was swiftly rejected. Just weeks later, OpenAI raised $40 billion in what is believed to be the largest private funding round in tech history, pushing its valuation to an eye-watering $300 billion.

As AI tools like this reshape how users interact with creative content online, and as major players vie for dominance, OpenAI’s image-generation feature may just be a sign of what’s to come.