OpenAI News πŸ€– Ai πŸ‘ 0 πŸ“– 4 min read

Introducing Images 2.6

Images 2.6 brings faster image generation, GIF creation, more precise editing, and new API controls across ChatGPT, Codex, and the API.

OpenAI

November 4, 2026

ProductRelease

Introducing Images 2.6

Generate images faster and with more control over editing rounds.

Loading…

We’re introducing Images 2.6 in ChatGPT, Codex, and the API, bringing your ideas to life faster. With this, you can bring motion to your images with GIFs β€” from animating a brand mascot or character to turning a product shot into an eye-catching loop. You can also create polished visuals faster and refine them with greater precision β€” keeping characters, products, and brand details consistent as you edit.

People around the world now create 4 billion images per week across ChatGPT, Codex, and the API. On average, that’s more than half a billion images created per day.

Faster iteration and more professional visuals

Images 2.6 generates images 50% faster than before. In the API, we offer GPT‑Image‑2.6 Flare and Sunburst for developers to choose from. When quality is set to low, Flare can generate images in as little as six seconds. For work that calls for greater detail and precision, GPT‑Image‑2.6 Sunburst brings higher-quality image generation and even greater image consistency across edits when quality is set to medium or high. Flare also improves layout quality for posters, product imagery, and other professional visuals.

Animate your ideas with GIFs

For moments that call for motion, GIFs bring another dimension to your ideas. Marketers and creators can animate a brand mascot for a campaign, create reactions and memes for social media, or use animated storyboards to explore character movement before video production.

Created by OpenArt

Prompt 1: Create a single animation sprite sheet for a seamless looping GIF. A super-cute chibi adult office worker sits at a desk watching a computer monitor with a clearly plunging stock-market line chart. The sequence: hopeful expression, notices the chart falling, eyes widen, face crumples, large cartoon tears stream down both cheeks, then quietly wipes tears while still staring at the falling chart. Oversized round head, tiny body, big expressive eyes, soft rounded features, messy fluffy hair, white shirt and loosened tie. Exactly 6 sequential frames arranged in a precise 3-column by 2-row grid, read left-to-right then top-to-bottom. Every panel has identical dimensions. Fixed front three-quarter camera, same character, same desk, monitor, outfit, and cozy miniature office background. Clear incremental facial and tear motion; sixth frame transitions smoothly toward the first. Polished kawaii chibi 3D toy-like style, warm pastel lighting, funny and sympathetic mood. No captions, no words, no numbers, no logos, no speech bubbles, no panel labels, no borders, no gutters.

Created by OpenArt

Prompt 2: Create a single animation sprite sheet for a seamless looping GIF. A super-cute chibi adult office worker sits at a desk watching a computer monitor with a clearly soaring stock-market line chart and a large upward arrow. The sequence: notices the chart rising, eyes widen with delight, jumps up cheering, grabs a handful of generic paper banknotes with no readable currency markings, then happily tosses the banknotes into the air like confetti while laughing. Oversized round head, tiny body, big sparkling expressive eyes, soft rounded features, messy fluffy hair, white shirt and loosened tie. Exactly 6 sequential frames arranged in a precise 3-column by 2-row grid, read left-to-right then top-to-bottom. Every panel has identical dimensions. Fixed front three-quarter camera, same character, desk, monitor, outfit, and cozy miniature office background. Clear incremental body, arm, and flying-paper motion; sixth frame transitions smoothly toward the first. Polished kawaii chibi 3D toy-like style, bright celebratory pastel lighting, funny joyful mood. No captions, no words, no numbers, no logos, no real currency symbols, no speech bubbles, no panel labels, no borders, no gutters.

β€œGIFs are the native language of social media, and GPT‑Image‑2.6 lets every OpenArt creator speak it fluently from a single prompt.”
β€”Coco Mao, CEO & Co-founder at OpenArt

And you don’t need a polished design to get started β€” even a simple sketch can become an expressive, animated character for videos, games, and more.

An owl drawn in pen on lined paper.

From personal reactions to brand mascots and product visuals, GIFs give people and businesses a playful way to communicate. Town, a startup building an AI work assistant, used Images 2.6 in the API to explore how animated characters could bring more personality to everyday interactions at work.

More ways to create and edit in the API

With Images 2.6, developers get more control over how images are created, edited, and carried into the next stage of a project. Image markup, already available in ChatGPT, comes to the API so teams can pinpoint exactly where to make specific changes. SVG exports make designs ready to use across websites, apps, and print.

A new complexity parameter lets developers adjust how much planning the model does to meet a request, with lower settings suited to quick edits. Image quality controls visual detail and fidelity, while complexity guides how much goes into the scene.

β€œGPT‑Image‑2.6 brings speed and creative control together, helping you generate and edit images while preserving the details that define a character, product, or brand. We’re excited to add it to Figma Weave, giving teams another powerful model for creative production, all within a reusable workflow.”
β€”Itay Schiff, Creative Director at Figma Weave

For most editing tasks, we recommend low complexity for faster edits, paired with the image quality your workflow requires. For scenes with many elements or constraints, try medium or high complexity effort.

See what early access customers generated using Images 2.6:

Pricing and availability

Images 2.6 is available globally today in ChatGPT and Codex across all subscription tiers on desktop, mobile, and web.

GPT‑Image‑2.6 Sunburst and GPT‑Image‑2.6 Flare are available in the API. See pricing details here.⁠(opens in a new window)

Learn more about our safety evaluations and safeguards for Images 2.6 in the system card.

Author

OpenAI
πŸ“° Read the original article on OpenAI News

Originally published by OpenAI News. Aggregated on AIWithGhost for educational purposes β€” full credit and traffic to the original publisher.