Knew we were onto something meaningful but response blew us away: OpenAI's Dhariwal on Ghibli trend
Ghibli is the buzzword for today's tech age with millions using AI to convert photographs, cards and much else into instantly recognised images. Meet the man responsible -
Prafulla Dhariwal
, the force behind
GPT-4o
that took Ghibli-inspired
AI art
to the people. Dhariwal (30) admits he was truly blown away by the overwhelming response, especially from India.
"We knew we were building something meaningful, but the scale of the response - especially from India - completely blew us away. Within weeks of launch, India became our fastest-growing market in the world for image generation. Globally, it resulted in the biggest growth surge in OpenAI's history," Dhariwal, the Head of Multimodal,
OpenAI
told PTI in an interview.
The creativity coming out of India has been incredible, says Dhariwal, who did his schooling from Dr. Kalmadi Shamrao High School in Pune. His academic pursuits took him to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from where he graduated in 2017. He joined OpenAI in the summer of 2016 as an intern, and became a full time employee a year later.
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Dhariwal says life's journey is a testament that the path from Pune school to working on frontier AI is "absolutely possible" with persistence, humility, and a clear sense of purpose.
From selfies to iconic photographs, users across India have embraced the 'Ghiblification' trend, making GPT-4o's image generator, a household name and marking a new - albeit controversial- chapter in AI-powered creativity.
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Last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman lauded Dhariwal, saying GPT-4o would not have happened without his "vision, talent, conviction, and determination".
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The Pune tech genius says the launch of image generation in GPT-4o has been "one of the most rewarding milestones" in his time at OpenAI, both technically ambitious and creatively energising.
While in India last December for his wedding preparations, Dhariwal says he used the model to create design ideas for wedding card. Seeing something he and his team had built, become part of such a meaningful moment "was truly special", he recounts.
"Our team of five spent nearly a year building 4o image generation from the ground up - with the goal of making image generation faster, sharper, and more intuitive overall," he said.
In fact, OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap had penned a post on X earlier this month dubbing the first week for images in ChatGPT as "very crazy" with over 130 million users having generated 700 million plus images in a short span. India is now OpenAI's fastest growing ChatGPT market.
Asked about the concerns around issues such as copyright and ethics, Dhariwal said the company's aim is to give users meaningful creative freedom while respecting artistic and legal boundaries.
"We don't allow generations in the style of individual living artists, but do permit broader studio-inspired styles, which are legally permissible under copyright law-as style itself isn't copyright-protected. The Ghibli-style outputs people are generating are often original, fan-inspired creations, and we're seeing them used in joyful, culturally expressive ways," he said.
As real-world use evolves, so do the company's policies, he said and added "we're continually learning and adapting".
Looking ahead, OpenAI is "excited" about the potential for new kinds of collaboration with animation studios and artists to co-create authentic, licensed experiences, he added.
Dhariwal says it has been humbling to help build something that's not just fun to use, but part of how people create and express themselves.
"The creativity coming out of India has been incredible. People are using it to create family portraits, recreate Bollywood scenes, design wedding invitations, and even plan proposals. As a passionate cricket fan, seeing Sachin Tendulkar share an image generated with our tool was a surreal moment- it truly hit me then just how deeply and widely this innovation had resonated," he said.
Dhariwal recounts that he and the team were not focused on any one particular style during research or training; and instead, aimed to build a flexible and capable system that could handle a wide range of visual prompts and aesthetics.
The Ghibli-style look became one of the most loved outputs, but it was just one example of what the model could do, he points out.
The famed techie says his parents are incredibly proud of his work on image generation in GPT-4o-especially after seeing the amazing response from India.
"I grew up in a family that cared deeply about both learning and making a difference. So getting to work on cutting-edge AI that has the potential to reach and empower people at scale - it feels pretty special," he said.
Dhariwal's message to young researchers, aspiring AI scientists, and India's youth: Stay curious, Keep learning, and be solution oriented.
"To young researchers, especially in India, my message is simple. Adopt a growth mindset. Stay curious. Keep learning. Don't shy away from hard problems, even if they feel out of reach at first. Trust that you can grow into the person who can solve them," he said.
AI is moving fast, and there's room for people from all backgrounds to contribute in meaningful ways, he says.
Ten years from now, Dhariwal hopes to have played a role in building tools that truly empower people- whether they're students, teachers, designers, engineers or simply curious minds exploring new ideas. Especially in India, where there's immense untapped creativity and potential, the opportunity to make a real impact feels incredibly meaningful, he says.
"If the tools we create can help someone work more efficiently, learn more intuitively, or express themselves in ways they never could before-that to me would be deeply fulfilling," he said.
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