The news: OpenAI released its newest image generator tool 4o Image Generation last Tuesday and is already seeing massive adoption.

• 4o allows users to produce art, logos, diagrams, infographics, stock photos, and more based on simple prompts.
• Activity—including a viral trend that saw users turn themselves into Studio Ghibli-style characters—was so widespread that it overloaded the company’s servers, with CEO Sam Altman claiming OpenAI’s GPUs were “melting” in an X post. OpenAI has since announced rate limits that will restrict free users to three images daily.
• The tool, which is the latest update to GPT-4o and is built into the latest version of ChatGPT, is OpenAI’s “most advanced image generator yet,” per the company’s announcement.

How advertisers are responding: The tool will have widespread implications for ad creatives, but seems to have a relatively positive reception.

• The image generator is “amazing” and “clearly shows where the technology—and because of that [the ad] industry—will be headed,” Monks' co-founder and chief AI officer Wesley ter Haar told Adweek.
• “The distance between an idea and a fully formed visual is now seconds, not days,” indicating a shift “from creativity as craft to creativity as choreography,” said Craig Elimeliah, chief creative officer for Code and Theory.

The comments align with a general shift in the ad industry toward AI acceptance.

• 57% of advertisers trust AI for various tasks, such as investment and optimization, while nearly 70% are receptive to advertising adjacent to AI-generated material, per an Advertiser Perceptions report.
• Of the 88% of marketers who rely on AI in their current jobs, 93% use AI for faster content generation, according to SurveyMonkey research.

Yes, but: While advertisers are increasingly accepting AI as part of the industry’s future, there remain several challenges in adopting AI for ad campaigns.

• Sixty percent of ad professionals are concerned about AI’s accuracy and transparency, while 58% have legal concerns and 54% are unclear about the vision of AI’s role in their company.
• Consumer sentiment is another concern. The viral Studio Ghibli trend indicates a shift in consumer attitudes towards genAI, but didn’t come without pushback. Many criticized the trend, with comments about its widespread adoption claiming that “all the soul has been sucked out of society” gaining traction on X.

Our take: Advertisers can recognize the value that a tool like 4o presents for optimizing campaigns while keeping in mind that overreliance on AI tools could have a negative impact on consumers’ brand perception.

• Nearly 40% of consumers believe that AI will have a negative impact on their lives.
• 65% express discomfort with AI-generated ads, indicating the need for brands to remain hesitant when using tools like 4o—though it is important to note that the same percentage expect brands to adopt AI technology, indicating a skeptical acceptance of the tool’s inevitability.
• Brands can use AI tools to expedite workflows, but must remember that campaigns are most effective when they maintain a human touch to reduce concerns and backlash.