ChatGPT users can now create animated GIFs directly in the chatbot, either by describing what they want in a prompt or by uploading a photo. The feature is rolling out together with OpenAI's new Images 2.6 model. It gives users control over how the finished GIF behaves, including its animation speed. The capability reaches ChatGPT and Codex users across web, desktop, and mobile apps.
Beyond generating the animation, the tool lets users edit individual frames of a GIF and share the result with others. OpenAI offered an example in which ChatGPT produced a GIF from the prompt asking for a cat dancing, then presented options to change playback speed and step through the animation frame by frame. Before the update, ChatGPT could not natively produce a GIF in a single step.
The Images 2.6 release also speeds up image generation inside ChatGPT, according to OpenAI. The company said users now create more than 4 billion images per week across ChatGPT and its API, up from the 3 billion per week it reported in September. Those figures cover both the consumer chatbot and developer access through the API.
Developers get new options as well. OpenAI is launching GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and Sunburst in its API, which the company describes as delivering faster and higher-quality image generation. The API models arrive alongside the consumer-facing rollout of Images 2.6.
The GIF tools and the image model update land in a product category where ChatGPT already handles large volumes of visual output for US consumers and businesses. The weekly image figure cited by OpenAI reflects combined activity across ChatGPT and its API, the two surfaces where the new model is being made available.
The rollout covers all ChatGPT and Codex users on web, desktop, and mobile, the company said. OpenAI has not broken out how many of the weekly images come from GIF creation specifically. The GIF feature and the broader Images 2.6 update are being distributed together rather than as separate releases.
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