ChatGPT can now make GIFs, and OpenAI says it serves 4B images a week

OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Images 2.6 on November 4, adding GIF creation and reference images. Two new API image models, Flare and Sunburst, are also coming, and the company says they generate images 50% faster than before.

The company announced it in a post on X: “Images, upgraded – introducing ChatGPT Images 2.6. Now with GIFs and reference images.” The post says two new models are coming to the API with 50% faster image generation. OpenAI’s developer account added that GPT-Image-2.6 is arriving in Codex and the API. The only description of the models in the part of that post available to us is that Flare and Sunburst are the two new API image models and that Sunburst keeps details more consistent at medium or high quality. The rest of that post was cut off in the material we received.

GIFs from a prompt or a photo, rolling out now

According to reports from The Decoder and The Next Web, a user can describe an animation in plain text or upload a photo, and ChatGPT builds a GIF from it. Afterward the user can change the playback speed, look at individual frames, edit them and share the result. The Next Web notes that ChatGPT could not produce a GIF in one step before this.

Both outlets report that the feature is rolling out to all ChatGPT and Codex users on web, desktop and mobile. Decrypt adds that the rollout is gradual, that OpenAI gave no date by which every account would have it, and that its own reporters could not use the feature when they tried. So availability may differ from account to account for now.

Reference images are the second user-facing addition. OpenAI’s post names them but, in the text we could read, does not explain how many images can be used, what file types are accepted, or whether the feature depends on a paid plan.

Flare and Sunburst split the API into speed and quality

For developers, the Images 2.6 family comes as two models. Reports describe GPT-Image-2.6 Flare as the efficient, speed-focused option and GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst as the one aimed at higher-quality output. OpenAI’s developer post says both generate images 50% faster than before and that Sunburst keeps details more consistent at medium or high quality. The Decoder and Decrypt say the same speed and quality split was introduced with Images 2.5 in September, so 2.6 refines an existing structure rather than creating one.

The post does not give API pricing, rate limits, context on how the 50% figure was measured, or the baseline model it is measured against. Decrypt said it could not test the models’ performance. The speed claim is therefore OpenAI’s own and has not been independently checked.

Consistent frames are the hard part of a GIF

A GIF is a sequence of still images, so the technical challenge is making many frames look like the same subject. The Decoder’s example, a prompt asking for a cat dancing, produced several slightly varied frames of one character that were strung together. That makes the detail-consistency claim for Sunburst relevant, although OpenAI’s text does not say that Sunburst is what powers the GIF tool, and no source we read says so.

Scale is the other context. According to The Next Web and The Decoder, OpenAI says users now generate more than 4 billion images per week across ChatGPT and the API, up from 3 billion in September. These are OpenAI’s own figures and cover all image use, not GIFs alone. Decrypt reports that Images 2.5, released in September, was already described as generating up to 50% faster than its predecessor. Another 50% gain would be a second large speed step within about two months, if the claim holds under independent testing.

Speed matters more for GIFs than for single images, since an animation needs many frames from one request. The sources say nothing about GIF resolution, frame count, duration, file size, usage limits or whether generated GIFs carry provenance metadata, so those remain open questions for people who plan to use the tool in work.

What readers can do today

ChatGPT and Codex users can look for the GIF option as the rollout reaches their account. Developers should watch OpenAI’s API documentation for Flare and Sunburst, since the announcement says the models are “coming” and gives no model pricing or exact release date in the material we could read. OpenAI’s status page also listed elevated error rates across paid ChatGPT plans on the same day, though there is no stated link to this launch.