OpenAI says people now create more than 4 billion images per week across ChatGPT and its API. That is up from 3 billion per week, the figure the company reported in September.
The new number arrived with an update called Images 2.6. The update adds a feature that lets ChatGPT make animated GIFs, according to The Verge.
Users can type a description of an animation or upload a photo and ask ChatGPT to animate it. Before this change, ChatGPT could not natively generate GIFs in a single step.
How the GIF Tool Works
Once a GIF is made, users can change how fast it plays. They can also view it frame by frame, edit single frames, and share the finished file.
OpenAI showed the tool with a simple prompt: “can you make a gif of a cat dancing?” The example included controls for playback speed and a frame viewer.
The rollout is gradual, and most users cannot reach the feature yet. Decrypt reported that it tried to make GIFs, but the tool was not live on its accounts during testing.
In Decrypt’s test, ChatGPT produced a series of separate frames but did not combine them into an animation. OpenAI has not given a date for when every account will get the GIF feature.
What Images 2.6 Brings
OpenAI says Images 2.6 makes image generation faster in ChatGPT. The model is rolling out to ChatGPT and Codex users on web, desktop, and mobile apps.
Developers are getting two new API models. GPT-Image-2.6 Flare is built for faster generation, and GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst is built for higher quality results.
Decrypt noted that OpenAI has not yet published a standalone announcement for the model. The outlet also said it could not independently test the model’s performance.
The update follows ChatGPT Images 2.5, which OpenAI released on September 8. That version added sharper details, more precise editing, and generation speeds up to 50% faster than Images 2.0.
Images 2.5 also brought the first Flare and Sunburst models to the API. Flare served as the fast default, while Sunburst was built for premium editing precision.
In Decrypt’s earlier testing, Images 2.5 faced Google’s Nano Banana 2 across six categories. Each model won three, and OpenAI’s model still made mistakes when rendering text.
The GIF feature comes months after OpenAI shut down Sora, its standalone AI video app, in March. Animated GIFs are much simpler than the videos Sora produced.
The new tool adds a form of motion generation directly inside ChatGPT. Users do not need a separate app to use it.
Images 2.6 is now rolling out to all ChatGPT and Codex users. GIF access is still arriving gradually, account by account.
