Half billion people can now make images with artificial intelligence

This article was last updated on April 1, 2025

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Half billion people can now make images with artificial intelligence

A photo of yourself, the trailer of The Lord of the Rings of Popular InternetMemes, but in the style of a Japanese animation studio: the images went around a lot on social media last week. They are made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

The program with which that happened is now available for everyone. It is a new image maker from OpenAi, the company behind Chatgpt. At the same time, this announces that half a billion people use the AI ​​programs of the company.

With the new AI tool it is possible to make all kinds of images, for example an existing image in a different style. Or a completely new image based on an assignment that you give.

OpenAi already launched the program a week ago, but it is now available for all users. Last week many people already used it to make images in the style of the Japanese animation studio Ghibli.

Ghibli was involved with The Red Turtle, an animation film by the Dutch illustrator Michael Dudok de Wit, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2017. Dudok de Wit worked ten years To that film, for which dozens of drawings were needed per second film image.

‘Insult to life itself’

The development is new food for the discussion about the use of artificial intelligence in art. OpenAi and other AI companies are accused of ‘stealing’ of lyrics, music and images on a large scale to develop their AI tools.

While AI generated images in the style of Ghibli went on on social media, one did old video That too. In it, Ghibli-founder Hayao Miyazaki is angry about a video made with AI. He thinks it is “an insult to life itself” to make art with AI. “I would never want to use this technology in my work.”

The discussion about copyright is not just about OpenAi. In the United States, photographers and cartoonists have filed lawsuits against AI-picture makers Stable Diffusion (from the company Stability AI), Imagen (from Google) and Midjourney (from the company of the same name).

However, the lawsuits do not prevent investors from pumping money into AI companies. OpenAi announced last night that an investment of 40 billion dollars (37 billion euros) is waiting.

According to the American news channel CNBC and the newspaper The New York Times The company immediately gets $ 10 billion and the remaining $ 30 billion is planned for later this year. But a large part of it would only be available for OpenAi if it succeeds in the structure of the organization to be overhauled this year.

Openai is currently in the hands of a foundation. CEO Sam Altman wants to change that, creating a company with a profit motive. That is a difficult and long process. According to sources of CNBC and The New York Times, the 40 billion investment can still halve if the reform is not completed by December 31.