OpenAI launches ChatGPT Images 2.5 with Flare and Sunburst API models
On Sept 9 OpenAI released ChatGPT Images 2.5 to all ChatGPT, Work and Codex users across desktop, mobile and web, plus GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and Sunburst in the API. The release emphasizes speed, fidelity and controllable editing, adding Sketch input and templates — though, as @kimmonismus noted, it was overshadowed by OpenAI's same-day Navier–Stokes breakthrough announcement.
Confirmed
- Generation latency down up to 50% vs Images 2.0; ManusAI (via @OpenAIDevs) measured 2-4x faster output than GPT-Image-2
- Higher fidelity: more natural images, better person recognizability, richer textures, complex layouts and transparent backgrounds
- Better consistency of people, pets and details across multi-turn edits, with per-edit version history
- Comment-based local editing: change only what you want via point/circle selection; an editing toolbar (annotations, comments, background removal, eraser, zoom) was also reported via @rohanpaulai
- New Sketch feature: type "@ Sketch" to draw a compositional reference or doodle onto images; users also found a canvas feature turning sketches into polished images
- New templates for posters, merch and other common formats
- API: Flare (default) is 50%+ faster with high quality; Sunburst targets fine editing with sharper detail, better lighting and stronger control
- LMArena feedback (via @DavidmComfort) notes a big leap in in-image text; a user demo (via @ZeroStateReflex) showed it passing the scrambled Rubik's cube mirror test; per @calabiandyau, Sunburst topped three LMArena leaderboards with 72h free Arena access
- Greg Brockman (gdb) shared the announcement and an image 2 vs 2.5 comparison, praising the capability
Why it matters
- Comment- and selection-based editing lowers the barrier to precise retouching, pushing image generation toward iterative workflows
- Templates, Sketch and canvas features lower the entry barrier for non-professional users, signaling a more mass-market creative tool direction
- Being overshadowed by the Navier–Stokes news on launch day reflects the sheer density of OpenAI's releases
2026-09-09 ~ 2026-09-10 · 43 related posts
- Episode 1: GPT-Image-2.5 Reportedly Launches in ChatGPT, Unconfirmed by OpenAI(2026-09-07, 5 posts)
- Episode 2: OpenAI launches ChatGPT Images 2.5 with Flare and Sunburst API models(2026-09-09, 43 posts)
- Episode 3: ChatGPT quietly upgrades to GPT-Image-2.5 with new Sketch feature(2026-09-09, 20 posts)
- Episode 4: GPT-Image-2.5 Variants Sweep Major Image Arena Leaderboards(2026-09-09, 6 posts)
- Episode 5: OpenAI Ships GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and Sunburst via API(2026-09-09, 4 posts)
- Episode 6: GPT Image 2.5 Impresses Users With Character Consistency(2026-09-09, 3 posts)
Primary sources
- OpenAI launches ChatGPT Images 2.5 with faster generation and comment-based edits — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI adds Sketch: draw inside ChatGPT to show the model what you mean — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI adds templates for posters and merch to ChatGPT image generation — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- [source] ChatGPT Images 2.5 rolls out broadly; API gets GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and Sunburst — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- [source] OpenAI ships ChatGPT Images 2.5 with faster generation and comment-based edits — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI quietly ships ChatGPT Image 2.5, overshadowed by its Navier-Stokes breakthrough — kimmonismus · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI quietly shipped ChatGPT Image 2.5, totally overshadowed by its Navier-Stokes breakthrough — kimmonismus · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.5, its latest image generation update — CommanderSlash · 2026-09-09
- ChatGPT Images 2.5 rolls out to all users with templates for posters and merch — OpenAI · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI launches GPT-Image-2.5 Flare and Sunburst image models in the API — OpenAIDevs · 2026-09-09
- GPT-Image-2.5 Flare Cuts Latency 50%; Sunburst Targets Precise Detailed Editing — OpenAIDevs · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI Launches GPT-Image-2.5: Precise Edits That Preserve Subject and Composition — OpenAIDevs · 2026-09-09
- Five Creative Tool Use Cases OpenAI Highlights for GPT-Image-2.5 Editing — OpenAIDevs · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI ships ChatGPT Images 2.5 with up to 50% faster generation and new Sketch input feature — Polymarket · 2026-09-09
- GPT Image 2.5 launches with Flare and Sunburst variants, major leap in text rendering — DavidmComfort · 2026-09-09
- ChatGPT Images 2.5 arrives with 50% faster generation and passes the scrambled Rubik's Cube mirror test — ZeroStateReflex · 2026-09-09
- gdb hails ChatGPT Image 2.5 comparison as OpenAI goes full berserker mode — gdb · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI Launches GPT-Image-2.5: 50% Faster, API Splits Into Flare and Sunburst — 新智元 · 2026-09-09
- GPT Image 2.5 Released: Faster, More Realistic, With Precise Point-to-Point Image Editing — xiaohu · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI Ships ChatGPT Images 2.5; Dev Opensources Curated Prompt Repo — matchaman11 · 2026-09-09
- OpenAI ships GPT Image 2.5 with faster generation, sketch canvas and precise inpainting — 卡尔的AI沃茨 · 2026-09-09
- Third-party app claims GPT Image 2.5 is live: faster generation, better edits — aziz4ai · 2026-09-10
- OpenAI's GPT-Image-2.5 tops all three LMArena image leaderboards, free to try for 72 hours — calabi_and_yau · 2026-09-10
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