OpenAI rolls out Images 2.6 with GIF generation and up to 50% faster image creation
OpenAI has introduced Images 2.6 in ChatGPT, Codex, and its API. The update brings faster image creation, animated GIFs, and more consistent results when editing images several times. The company says its image-generation tools now create more than 4 billion images every week, with an average of over 500 million images each day.
OpenAI Images 2.6 features
Images 2.6 creates images 50% faster than the previous version. The API has two models: GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst. Flare focuses on better layouts for posters, product images, and professional designs. At low quality, it can create an image in just six seconds. Sunburst is designed for higher-quality images. It provides more detail and keeps images more consistent when users make changes at medium and high quality.
The update also adds GIF creation. Users can make animations from text instructions, simple drawings, or existing images. OpenAI says this can be used to animate mascots and product images, create social media reactions and memes, and make animated storyboards to test movement before producing a video.
Town, a startup developing an AI assistant for work, used the Images 2.6 API to explore animated characters for everyday workplace activities.
Other new features in the API include:
- Image markup: The feature that lets users mark areas of an image in ChatGPT is now available through the API. Developers can point to specific parts of an image so they can make precise changes.
- SVG exports: Images 2.6 can save images as SVG files for use on websites, apps, and in printed materials.
- Complexity control: A new setting controls how much planning the model does before creating an image. OpenAI recommends low complexity for most edits. Medium or high complexity is better for images with many parts or detailed requirements.
- Image quality control: A separate setting controls the amount of visual detail and how closely the image matches the intended result. It works independently of the complexity setting.
Image safety and provenance
OpenAI says GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst uses several safety checks when creating and editing images. These checks review prompts, uploaded images, and generated images to find requests or content that break its rules. ChatGPT image generation also now checks for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) at the same time as image creation, alongside its existing moderation systems.
OpenAI has also added safety checks for GIF creation. These checks look for sexualized movement and harmful meanings that may appear across different animation frames. In OpenAI's tests, the GIF moderation system achieved an overall recall rate of 77.7%. The company says detecting harmful content involving movement is still difficult, so the system may not catch every violation.
Images created through ChatGPT, Codex, and the OpenAI API include information that helps show where they came from. This includes C2PA metadata and SynthID invisible watermarks from Google DeepMind. SynthID works alongside C2PA metadata to help people identify content made by AI.
Availability and pricing
OpenAI Images 2.6 is available worldwide in ChatGPT and Codex. It is included across all subscription plans on the web, desktop, and mobile apps. Developers can use both GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst through the API.
The standard API prices for both Images 2.6 models are shown below:
Prices are per 1 million tokens.
OpenAI also provides separate batch API prices for older image models, including GPT-Image-2 and GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and Sunburst:
Batch API prices are per 1 million tokens. These prices apply to the older models listed above, not GPT-Image-2.6.