In a series of posts on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Monday that the rapid growth of the company’s new image-generation tool in ChatGPT is expected to result in unspecified product delays.

As Altman explained, “We are working to get everything under control, but users should anticipate delays in new releases from OpenAI, occasional breakdowns, and slower service as we address capacity challenges.” He added, “Our team is working as fast as possible to resolve these issues and get everything running smoothly.”

The introduction of OpenAI’s image-generation capability was met with significant attention and controversy due to its impressive ability to replicate styles such as Studio Ghibli’s hand-drawn animation. Over the weekend, Altman stated in posts on X that the company had struggled to keep up with demand since the launch, with staff working extended hours to maintain the service. He noted that the company “hasn’t been able to catch up” since the launch.

On Monday, Altman revealed that ChatGPT had added one million new users within a single hour, bringing the total number of weekly users to 500 million and 20 million paying subscribers. This represents a significant increase from the 300 million users and 15.5 million subscribers reported at the end of 2024.

To alleviate its capacity issues, OpenAI has delayed the release of the image-generation tool for free ChatGPT users and temporarily disabled video generation for new users of Sora, the company’s suite of generative AI media tools. These measures aim to help the company manage the surge in demand and prevent further disruptions to its services.