ChatGPT’s recent success from its Studio Ghibli-style art can be considered a milestone in the digital arena. It has officially surpassed Elon Musk's X platform (formerly Twitter) in monthly traffic. According to reports, ChatGPT passed the 1.8 billion visits mark in April 2025, outdoing X with its 1.6 billion visits.
This occurred as the world went into a tizzy over a viral trend that beautifully combined sophisticated AI capabilities with fanciful Studio Ghibli-style artwork.
Traffic growth has been driven by the viral Ghibli-style AI art trend, where users convert their photos into ethereal anime-style visuals. Social media is ablaze with these portraits, which were described as "hauntingly beautiful." Powered by OpenAI's recently unleashed GPT-4o model, the feature aims to tap into collective nostalgia by fusing the cutting edge with visuals that hit an emotional chord.
The fuse that leads to ChatGPT’s explosive growth is OpenAI’s unique recipe of creativity plus accessibility. By letting people quickly generate Ghibli-style images, OpenAI invites everyone into this activity-from the casual user to the budding digital artist. Such a popular feature increases engagement for OpenAI tools while establishing OpenAI as the pioneer in innovative AI tools and design that puts users first.
AI art, with its increasing popularity, triggers discussion about creativity, ethics, and the future of digital media. Some greet the art democratization by AI as a welcome phenomenon, while others raise questions regarding originality and human touch. The ChatGPT Ghibli-style phenomenon is a case study of technology's influence on creative expression and user behavior.
ChatGPT achieving immense traffic over X brings forth the larger pattern of AI tools becoming not niche but mainstream in popularity. Through Ghibi-style trends, the ChatGPT culture has sprung up in parallel with its utility as a productivity tool. As the AI takes over content creation and engagement, X had better hurry and find a way to get back into the spotlight, otherwise it might just be overshadowed by ChatGPT again.