OpenAI announced Images 2.6 on November 4. The company says the release is available globally in ChatGPT and Codex across subscription tiers, with Flare and Sunburst variants in the API.

Editing and motion

The update adds GIF creation. API workflows gain image markup, SVG export and a complexity setting separate from visual quality. OpenAI recommends lower complexity for faster edits; more constrained scenes can use higher settings.

Performance is vendor-reported

OpenAI reports 50% faster generation and says Flare can produce a low-quality image in as little as six seconds. Those are vendor claims, not a latency guarantee or independent comparison. Sunburst targets more detailed generation and consistency across edits.