ChatGPT Now Makes Animated GIFs With Images 2.6

ChatGPT can now make animated GIFs from a prompt or a photo you upload, with speed and single frames you can edit, alongside OpenAI’s new Images 2.6 model.

Make social posts, product loops or reaction images for your brand? This lands in a tool you might already pay for.

The Verge reports that until now, ChatGPT couldn’t make a GIF natively in one step. Images 2.6 is rolling out to all ChatGPT and Codex users on web, desktop and mobile.

What Images 2.6 adds in ChatGPT

OpenAI’s example asks for a dancing cat. ChatGPT makes it, then lets you change the speed or step through it frame by frame, and you can edit single frames too.

TestingCatalog says you can turn mascots, product shots, sketches, reactions and storyboards into short loops.

It also aims to keep brand details the same across edits. That’s the claim to test.

Other changes in ChatGPT Images 2.6:

• saved reference images of yourself, a pet or a character, so you don’t upload them again
• images 50% faster than before, OpenAI says
• every subscription tier, TestingCatalog says

Meanwhile, OpenAI says people now make over 4 billion images a week across ChatGPT and its API, The Verge reports. In September, it said 3 billion.

Two new image models in the API

Building on the API? You get two new models.

GPT-Image-2.6 Flare is the fast one, for posters and product images. At low quality, it can make an image in as little as six seconds.

GPT-Image-2.6 Sunburst goes for detail.

At medium or high quality, it keeps details more consistent from one edit to the next, OpenAI says.

The API gets new tools too:

• image markup, so your app can point at the exact area to change
• SVG export, with files ready for websites, apps and print
• a complexity setting: low for most quick edits, medium or high for busy scenes, OpenAI suggests

Why it matters

If you run social for a brand or a small shop, you can skip the separate GIF maker now.

Still, I’d test the consistency claim yourself: make one mascot five times and compare. If your logo or colours drift, a loop shows it faster than a still.

Though if you put these GIFs on your website, be careful. GIF files are heavy, so I’d convert yours to a short video or animated WebP before you upload them, to keep pages fast.

For developers, the SVG export is what I’d try first.

So is it worth your time? My read: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be where you make everything, the same push as GPT-6.1 Terra.

That said, a faster image tool only helps if you’d post the result. Try it on one real campaign this week. Then decide.

Common Questions

Can ChatGPT make animated GIFs now?

Yes. With Images 2.6, ChatGPT can make a GIF from a prompt or an uploaded photo, and you can change the speed or edit it frame by frame before you share it.

Who gets ChatGPT Images 2.6?

It’s rolling out to all ChatGPT and Codex users on web, desktop and mobile, across every subscription tier, according to The Verge and TestingCatalog, while developers on the API get two new image models to build with.

What are GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and Sunburst?

They’re OpenAI’s two new image models in the API. Flare is the fast one for posters and product images, while Sunburst keeps details more consistent from one edit to the next at medium or high quality, and the API also gets image markup, SVG export and a complexity setting.