New Delhi, March 28 -- OpenAI's latest image generation tool sparked a viral trend of Studio Ghibli-style renderings, flooding social media with cartoons of pets, families, and famous landmarks or events reflecting the work of legendary auteur and animator Hayao Miyazaki -- only for the AI company to restrict access to Plus and Pro subscribers, within 24 hours.

By Wednesday night, social media timelines had transformed into vibrant galleries of whimsical imagery as users rushed to experiment with OpenAI's newest image generation capabilities.

By Thursday, many users found their creative endeavors met with rejection messages. OpenAI had begun blocking requests from ChatGPT accounts which were still on the free tier for images in the "sty...