ChatGPT’s image generation feature is now available to free users, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. The decision came after days of an unprecedented response to the new feature, generating AI images, particularly the iconic Studio Ghibli-inspired art, on social media.
Until now, the AI image generation feature was available only to paid subscribers under the ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team plans. Free users were restricted to generating a maximum of three images per day. Following the feature’s massive popularity among premium users, OpenAI has extended it to all free-tier accounts.
Sam Altman wrote on X, “ChatGPT image gen now rolled out to all free users.”
chatgpt image gen now rolled out to all free users!
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 1, 2025
Before the announcement, he said he wanted “everyone to use it.” “We will not do anything silly like saying that you can’t use our open model if your service has more than 700 million monthly active users. We want everyone to use it,” he wrote on X.
we will not do anything silly like saying that you cant use our open model if your service has more than 700 million monthly active users.
we want everyone to use it!
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
The rollout began on March 26, and as of April 1, all ChatGPT users – regardless of subscription – can now access the tool. The feature is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model.
Mr Altman said the rollout of image generation to free-tier users triggered an explosive surge in new accounts. He said, “The ChatGPT launch 26 months ago was one of the craziest viral moments I’d ever seen, and we added one million users in five days. We added one million users in the last hour.”
the chatgpt launch 26 months ago was one of the craziest viral moments i’d ever seen, and we added one million users in five days.
we added one million users in the last hour.
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
Earlier, Mr Altman, in response to the mounting pressure on OpenAI’s infrastructure, appealed to users, saying, “Can y’all please chill on generating images? This is insane, our team needs sleep.”
To manage the situation, OpenAI introduced temporary rate limits on image generation. Mr Altman explained the issue in another post saying the number of requests had put immense strain on the company GPUs (graphics processing units) and were “melting.”
How To Use Image Regeneration In ChatGPT
- Generate an initial image using a text prompt.
- Modify the prompt (like, “Make the sky red instead of blue”).
- Hit the “regenerate” option to get an updated version of the image.
- Compare and refine – repeat the process until the desired result is achieved.
