OpenAI ships Images 2.6 with GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and Sunburst

OpenAI released Images 2.6, rolling it out today across ChatGPT and Codex on web, desktop, and mobile for all tiers. The update adds animated GIF output, letting people turn a prompt or an existing image into a GIF, adjust its speed, and edit individual frames. It also adds reference images, which let users save images of themselves, pets, or characters so they can be reused without re-uploading each time.

The release also introduces two new developer-facing models built on GPT-Image-2.6: Flare and Sunburst. OpenAI says Flare can generate an image in as little as six seconds, while Sunburst is built for higher-quality generation with greater consistency across edits. Both models are available in the API, where OpenAI says they bring image generation that is about 50% faster than before.

Images 2.6 also adds image markup, so users can annotate directly on an image to guide edits, along with the ability to export images as SVG vector files rather than only static raster formats.

Why it matters

GIFs, reference images, and two faster API models give ChatGPT and Codex users more ways to generate and edit images.

Source: OpenAI