ChatGPT Users Embrace 'Ridiculously Bad' AI Images in Viral Scribble Trend
Forget high-quality; users now demand clumsy MS Paint-style doodles from AI.
A new viral trend on ChatGPT has users abandoning polished, cinematic AI images in favor of deliberately terrible, scribbly doodles. The phenomenon began when Korean creative director Wonjae Gi (known as "grdnrush") shared a prompt on Threads: "Redraw the attached image in the most clumsy, scribbly and utterly pathetic way possible... like it was drawn in MS Paint with a mouse." The prompt took off after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reshared it on X in late April. OpenAI quickly integrated the prompt into Images 2.0, its upgraded image generation tool launched April 21. Competitor Grok Imagine also added a "Scribbli" template that outputs similar rough-hewn styles.
Gi told Forbes he felt "fatigue from how perfect everything was becoming" and wanted to go "in the completely opposite direction." The resulting images flood social media with derpy faces, triangular noses, and chaotic squiggles. OpenAI product lead Adele Li called the craze "joyful, social and instantly understandable." The trend arrives amid serious public discourse around AI (including the Musk-OpenAI trial), offering a lighthearted counterpoint. It follows earlier viral ChatGPT image trends like workplace caricatures and Studio Ghibli-style filters, but deliberately embraces lo-fi imperfection over high fidelity.
- Prompt originated from Korean designer Wonjae Gi on Threads and was reshared by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- OpenAI integrated the prompt into Images 2.0; competitor Grok launched a 'Scribbli' template.
- Trend reflects user fatigue with perfectly polished AI images, embracing lo-fi nostalgia for early digital art.
Why It Matters
The trend shows AI can foster playful, human-like creativity, but also highlights how AI discourse remains polarized.