ChatGPT creators OpenAI have introduced rate limits after a viral social media trend that saw nearly everything “Ghiblifyied” — turned into AI art in the style of the famous Japanese animation studio. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was one of the first to take part in the trend, posting a portrait of himself generated by the model on March 25 but said in a subsequent post two days later that all image requests have started to tax the firm’s infrastructure.

“It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT but our GPUs are melting. We are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient,” he said.

Source: Sam Altman

“Also, we are refusing some generations that should be allowed; we are fixing these as fast we can,” he added.

OpenAI launched the upgraded image generation offering in ChatGPT-4o on March 25, resulting in users splashing images across social media in the art style of Studio Ghibli — known for its anime films Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.

Altman didn’t give a definitive timeline on how long the rate limits would last but said, “Hopefully, it won’t be long! ChatGPT free tier will get three generations per day soon.”

Rate limits are generally applied to help OpenAI manage the aggregate load on its infrastructure, according to OpenAI. 

Related: Ghibli memecoins surge as internet flooded with Studio Ghibli-style AI images

“If requests to the API increase dramatically, it could tax the servers and cause performance issues. By setting rate limits, OpenAI can help maintain a smooth and consistent experience for all users,” OpenAI says on its rate limit explanation page.

Along with the legions of others getting in on the trend, X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared an image mimicking King Mufasa from Disney’s The Lion King holding up a Shiba Inu. 

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks also joined in, using the Studio Ghibli-art style on an image of himself at an event.

Source: David Sacks

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on March 26 that OpenAI expects to more than triple its revenue this year to $12.7 billion, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Altman said on Feb. 12 his firm wants to ship GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 in the coming weeks or months.

Magazine: ‘Chernobyl’ needed to wake people to AI risks, Studio Ghibli memes: AI Eye

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has officially closed its investigation into Crypto.com, with no action taken against the crypto exchange, according to the firm’s CEO, Kris Marszalek.

It comes seven months after the SEC issued a Wells notice to the crypto platform in August, signaling its intention to take legal action against the firm.

”They used every tool available to attempt to stifle us, restricting access to banking, auditors, investors, and beyond. It was a calculated attempt to put an end to the industry,” Marszalek said in a March 27 X post.

The SEC’s investigation into https://t.co/pFc4Pz9nFR has been closed with no action being taken against https://t.co/pFc4Pz9nFR.

— Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) March 27, 2025

”The fact that we not only persevered but became stronger is a testament to our vision and the community supporting it. Onwards!”

Crypto.com filed a lawsuit against the SEC in October, accusing the Gary Gensler-led commission of overstepping its authority and taking a “misguided” approach to crypto regulation.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

The US Justice Department (DOJ) seized more than $200,000 in cryptocurrency intended to benefit the militant group Hamas it said in a statement on March 27.

The cryptocurrency with a total value of $201,400 was traced to fundraising addresses allegedly controlled by Hamas and used to launder more than $1.5 million in digital assets since October 2024.

The laundering occurred through a series of “virtual currency exchanges and transactions by leveraging suspected financiers and over-the-counter brokers,” the DOJ said. The funds are currently held in a combination of at least 17 wallets.

Affidavit to seize the Hamas-linked cryptocurrency. Source: US DOJ

In January 2024, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, along with corresponding organizations in the United Kingdom and Australia, announced sanctions against networks and facilitators of crypto transactions linked to Hamas. Those sanctions were built on US Treasury sanctions from October 2023.

In January 2024, three families of victims of the Hamas attack against Israel sued Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, alleging that the exchange had provided “substantial assistance” to terrorists. In oral arguments, a lawyer representing Binance claimed the exchange had “no special relationship [with] Hamas […].”

Binance has faced scrutiny from the US government over alleged shortcomings in its Anti-Money Laundering controls. The exchange settled with the DOJ for $4.3 billion in November 2023.

More regulation needed?

According to a December 2024 report by the Congressional Research Service, Hamas has allegedly sought cryptocurrency donations since at least 2019, although the “scale and effectiveness” of these efforts have been unclear.

Terrorist organizations using crypto for fundraising have increasingly drawn the attention of the US, with some officials questioning whether the industry needed more supervision or regulation to stop such behavior.

According to a 2023 Chainalysis report, terrorism financing accounts for a very small amount of crypto usage, with illegal groups sticking to using traditional, fiat-based methods to fund operations.

Magazine: Terrorism and the Israel-Gaza war have been weaponized to destroy crypto