OpenAI’s ChatGPT Images gets faster, with sharper details and more refined edits

OpenAI Group PBC said today it’s giving its image-generation tool a bit more artistic flair, announcing the launch of ChatGPT Images 2.5, an update to ChatGPT Images 2.0 that debuted in April.

According to OpenAI, the new tool is able to generate images with “more natural lighting and richer textures” than before, and is better at following user’s instructions “across multiple turns.” It’s much faster than before, too, capable of generating images up to 50% faster, and there’s a new tool called Sketch, which lets people sketch out images using their finger on a touchscreen to use as a reference point for the image they want to generate.

The updates also mean ChatGPT Images is now better at preserving the details of subjects in reference photos, OpenAI said in a blog post. For instance, distinctive facial features and other identifying details can now be carried through more reliably across multiple image generations and edits within a single conversation.

The new model will also preserve details that the user has not asked it to change when requesting an edit. It will even do this with complex scenes that have multiple subjects and objects or busy backgrounds. With ChatGPT Images 2.0, such details would often degrade when users attempted to make targeted edits, but version 2.5 does better at maintaining the overall stability of the image, so users can make pinpoint edits.

Over long conversations, during which users may instruct the model to make multiple edits, it will ensure that previous requests are adhered to when the user asks for yet another edit. That means that earlier changes will remain stable, with each successive edit building upon it without any loss of quality, the company said. It’s all about supporting iterative creative workflows.

Sketches as a starting point

Perhaps the biggest addition to ChatGPT Images 2.5 is Sketch, which allows users to draw directly into ChatGPT and use their sketch as a visual reference for the image they want to generate. The user simply sketches a rough layout, visual direction or composition, and the model will build on that starting point to generate a more polished image. This feature is most likely to benefit those who use some kind of stylus, such as an Apple Pencil, since drawing on a touchscreen can be a bit fiddly at the best of times.

The model also gets new templates for common image formats, such as flyers and product photos. It also now supports inline comments on images to enable targeted edits. Finally, users can also now share their prompts along with the images they’ve generated, so that their friends and colleagues can iterate on their ideas.

OpenAI said there are two variants of ChatGPT Images 2.5. The first is GPT-Image-2.5 Flare, which is the default model when someone first opens the app. The company said it will create high-quality images at between two and four-times as fast as the GPT-Image-2 model does, with better support for transparent backgrounds, making it ideal for creating brand assets, presentations and websites.

The other model is GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst, which sacrifices speed for greater precision, the company explained. It will take a little longer, but users will be able to generate images with greater fidelity in terms of detail, which could be important for some creative professionals and artists who require pixel-perfect consistency. OpenAI said it’s primarily aimed at things such as product photos and marketing materials, where every material must be perfectly on-brand.

On the security side, OpenAI said ChatGPT Images 2.5 has several guardrails on prompts and outputs to prevent harmful content from being generated. It also uses C2PA metadata and invisible watermarking techniques to ensure generated images can be identified as such, in order to prevent unauthorized reuse and deepfakes.

The new model is available now in ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex on desktop, mobile and the web, OpenAI said. Developers can also access GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst via two separate application programming interfaces.