OpenAI ships Images 2.6 with GIFs and 6-second generation

Good morning. OpenAI acquired a code-review startup and shipped animated GIFs in the same week, which is either a sign of a very busy product roadmap or a very eclectic one. Meanwhile, the open-source side of the industry is having its own identity crisis: free models are everywhere, but nobody has quite figured out who captures the value. A good day to think about what 'open' actually means when the most capable models are still built behind closed doors.

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IMAGE

Image generation in ChatGPT has been a static-output tool since launch, with no native animation and no vector export.

Driving the news: OpenAI released its Images 2.6 model alongside two API variants, GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and Sunburst. Flare generates images in as little as 6 seconds. Both add GIF output, SVG export, markup-based edits, and a complexity parameter that lets developers trade detail for speed. ChatGPT users can now generate animated GIFs directly from a text prompt or an uploaded photo, with controls for animation speed and per-frame editing.

SVG export is new: previous versions output raster images only, which meant every logo or icon needed manual redrawing to scale.
The complexity parameter is a developer-facing dial, not a consumer toggle, letting API users tune output quality against latency.

Zoom in: Image generation has been one of ChatGPT's stickiest consumer features since GPT-Image-1 launched earlier this year, but the output format never moved beyond static PNGs. Designers and social media teams have been exporting stills and animating them elsewhere. The 6-second Flare variant is aimed squarely at that workflow friction, and SVG export addresses a long-standing complaint from anyone using the tool for logos or UI assets.

GIF support puts ChatGPT's image tool in direct competition with standalone animation generators that have held that niche.
The markup-edit feature, which lets users describe changes in text rather than repainting, extends the iterative editing workflow that made the image tool popular.

Why it matters: For creators making social content, the GIF output removes one export-and-re-import step from a workflow that previously required a separate animation tool. SVG export matters most to designers building brand assets, where scalability is non-negotiable. The 6-second generation time on Flare makes quick iteration practical in a way that longer waits were not.

Bottom line: ChatGPT's image tool just ate two categories it previously sent users elsewhere to handle.

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Try it yourself

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If you want to compare Images 2.6 output against other generation models without switching tabs, Snippt's image-generator runs several models in one place.

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