That viral Ghibli trend helped ChatGPT make millions of dollars

OpenAI recently released its Images 2.0 model, and it has already started a new trend that lets you imagine yourself in the same frame as your younger self. And this isn’t the first trend started by the new image model, with previous ones including the Ghibli trend started by ChatGPT or the 3D sculpture trend driven by Google’s Nano Banana. According to experts, these events led to the fastest growth in apps, which in turn, helped generate revenue faster than any other AI model release.

AI-based image generation and manipulation make a major contribution to the development of AI chatbots based on large language models. This was reported recently (via). techcrunch) By appfigureAn app store optimization and analytics platform.

Although AI chatbots were on the rise before the new model was released with conversational features, complex problem-solving, and voice-based features, image-related tools have driven massive downloads for these apps. According to data from AppFigures, ChatGPT earned nearly 12 million new downloads in just four weeks after introducing the viral image generator powered by its GPT-4O model in March last year, which set the internet on fire with its Ghibli image trend. Similarly, Google’s Gemini received over 22 million downloads after the release of Nano Banana based on Gemini 2.5 flash model in August last year.

According to the platform’s findings, as a result of the introduction of image and video-centric features and models, the number of downloads increased by 6.5 times the normal. OpenAI’s Ghibli event led to a 4.5x increase in ChatGPT otherwise seen during milestone launches like GPT-40, GPT-4.5, GPT-5.

AppFigures claims that in addition to additional download statistics, OpenAI and Google also earned revenue from the paid model. OpenAI, which saw enough demand to eventually limit image creation to paid models, is believed to have generated nearly $70 million in revenue in the first 28 days after launching the image model. In contrast, Google is estimated to have earned only $181,000 despite accumulating nearly double the downloads. Notably, Google also provided free AI subscriptions to billions of users, especially in growing markets like India, which may have impacted its revenues.

An exception was the release of the popular open-source model DeepSeek R1 in January 2025. It was the only text model that received more downloads than ChatGPT and Gemini during the image download rush phases, and received enough traction for its special features that made it more attractive than ChatGPT and Gemini.