ChatGPT adds animated GIF creation with Images 2.6

ChatGPT is receiving a feature that creates animated GIFs from written prompts or uploaded photos. The update uses OpenAI’s Images 2.6 model and is rolling out to ChatGPT and Codex users on the web, desktop, and mobile applications, according to The Verge.

Users can generate an animation and then change its playback speed or modify individual frames. OpenAI demonstrated the feature with a prompt asking for a dancing cat. The resulting GIF combines several slightly different versions of the character in a flipbook-like sequence. The article says the model can preserve the character’s appearance across frames more consistently than earlier models were expected to.

Images 2.6 is also intended to make image generation faster. For developers, OpenAI is releasing the GPT-Image-2.6 API variants “Flare,” designed for efficiency, and “Sunburst,” focused on higher-quality output. OpenAI said people now generate well over four billion images weekly through ChatGPT and its API, one billion more than in September.