ChatGPT’s image surge: 700 million generated in days as India leads AI boom

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm with the launch of its latest image generation tool, prompting users to generate a staggering 700 million images since last Tuesday. As engagement soars, ChatGPT is also expected to become significantly faster on the web, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced in a post on X on April 3.

“ChatGPT has gotten way, way faster on the web! Lots of hard work from the team to make this happen,” said Sam Altman in a post on X.

Additionally, the company’s chief operating officer (COO), Brad Lightcap, revealed that more than 130 million users collectively generated an astounding 700 million images in just four days.

Lightcap stated that India has now become the fastest-growing market for ChatGPT.

“India is now our fastest growing ChatGPT market. The range of visual creativity has been extremely inspiring,” said Brad Lightcap in a post on X on April 3 evening.

Recently, Sam Altman was also seen sharing a series of Ghibli-style images generated by popular Indian users—these included Ghibli-style depictions of prominent figures such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as an image of himself portrayed as an Indian cricketer in anime-style.

“What's happening with AI adoption in India right now is amazing to watch. We love to see the explosion of creativity--India is outpacing the world,” Altman said in a post.

Altman also announced that the paid version of ChatGPT, known as ChatGPT Plus, will be available free of charge across the US and Canada for college students with a verified student ID through the month of May.

However, it remains unclear whether a similar announcement will be made for students in India.

As ChatGPT rides a wave of soaring popularity, marked by a surge in subscriptions and user sign-ups, it continues to grapple with the growing workload on its language models and persistent accuracy challenges—particularly in image generation, where the model often struggles with even basic math. Nonetheless, buoyed by its latest funding from SoftBank, OpenAI is actively working to enhance and refine its models.

“We appreciate your patience as we try to serve everyone. The team continues to work around the clock,” said Lightcap in the post.

As large language models (LLMs) continue to advance, concerns around privacy and the rise of fraudulent AI-generated deepfakes persist—and are only intensifying with time.