As the holiday weekend nears, users keen to dabble with AI-generated content must act fast. AI behemoths OpenAI and Google recently imposed new usage restrictions on their renowned generative tools because of an unprecedented demand surge and consequent pressure on their infrastructure.
The video generation instrument of OpenAI, Sora, is experiencing growing popularity which is quite literally causing a heated response from the company. The team lead of Sora, Bill Peebles, announced on his X(formerly Twitter) that free users will now be limited to generating only six videos daily, attributing this decision to the extreme computational load their platform is facing — in his words, “Our GPUs are melting”.
On the other hand, Google has enforced comparable constraints on its image introduction tool, the newly launched Nano Banana Pro that’s already a hit among users. The company has scaled back the number of daily free image generations from three to two.
The modification was initially spotted by 9to5Google and later corroborated on Google’s official support page. It stated that these restraints might be refined frequently and without prior notification, typically observed post-launching of such popular AI utilities. Moreover, there are speculations about Google possibly limiting access to Gemini 3 Pro for free users, though the specifics are yet to be disclosed.
Ordinary users might find these changes disconcerting, more so at a time when many are free and excited to delve into novel technologies. However, the alterations manifest the reality of current hardware limitations and the exorbitant cost of operating large scale AI models.
Both AI giants seem to be steering through the fragile equilibrium of accessibility and sustainability. While there’s an evident push towards monetisation, the prime focus is to assure service stability and broad user availability. For those who wish to understand this scenario further, the comprehensive report is available on The Verge.
Note that these newly imposed constraints don’t apply to users who are subscribers to ChatGPT Plus and Pro plans, and they can continue enjoying the same usage levels as OpenAI hasn’t specified anything to the contrary. And for those who want more than the allocated six generations, OpenAI provides the provision to purchase additional credits. This action aligns with OpenAI’s broader approach to ramp up the monetisation of its services.
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