OpenAI updates ChatGPT image generation to GPT Image 1.5
OpenAI moved the launch up from a planned January date, part of a competitive scramble after Google's Gemini 3 and its 'Nano Banana Pro' image tool led leaderboards.
- Models & capabilities
- Minor
OpenAI rolled out GPT Image 1.5, replacing GPT Image 1 as ChatGPT’s default image model for all users and via API, with a dedicated sidebar interface it described as working “more like a creative studio.” The company claimed image generation up to four times faster than its predecessor, improved instruction-following, and finer editing controls that preserve facial likeness, lighting, composition and colour tone across successive edits.
TechCrunch reported that OpenAI had originally planned the release for January 2026 but moved it up, framing the acceleration as part of the “code red” response chief executive Sam Altman had reportedly ordered after Google’s Gemini 3 topped independent leaderboards the previous month — a period that also saw Google’s “Nano Banana Pro” image tool draw significant attention. The release came one week after GPT-5.2 and the same week as several other OpenAI product updates.
None of OpenAI’s speed or quality claims for GPT Image 1.5 were independently benchmarked at release. The episode was one of several in December 2025 in which OpenAI shipped incremental product updates on a compressed timetable, read by press coverage as evidence of how directly Gemini 3’s benchmark lead had disrupted OpenAI’s release schedule across multiple product lines, not just its flagship chat model.