OpenAI just launched a Nano Banana competitor: ChatGPT Images
ChatGPT Images doesn’t roll off the tongue like Nano Banana, but OpenAI finally has an answer for Google’s wildly popular AI image editor. The company’s “new flagship image generation model” is now available in ChatGPT Images and in the API as the GPT Image 1.5 model.
In fact, OpenAI has been on a tear recently. The company, which was rumored to be in a “code red» status following the launch of Google Gemini 3, launched GPT-5.2 last week. Today, OpenAI continues its counterattack against Google’s new push into AI with a pretty big update to ChatGPT Images, promising to generate better images, edit images more efficiently, and do it faster.
“Whether you create something from scratch or edit a photo, you will get the result you imagine,” OpenAI says in its announcement message. “It makes precise edits while keeping details intact and generates images up to 4 times faster.”
In addition to the update, which doesn’t seem to have a catchy name like Google’s Nano BananaOpenAI also launched a new Images tab in the ChatGPT app and browser. In addition to being a dedicated space for creating images, the new ChatGPT Images also act as a sort of discovery and brainstorming feed to give you ideas on what to create. OpenAI says the new feature is “designed to make generating images enjoyable – to spark inspiration and make creative exploration effortless.”
These 6 Nano Banana Pro Prompts Are Crazy With the Gemini 3 Upgrade
For general performance, the latest update seems like a refinement rather than something entirely new. OpenAI claims that the new ChatGPT image model will be more reliable, adhere better to user intent, and keep details more consistent across multiple outputs. This last bit became a meme in the AI user community, and many have done so. I tried the ChatGPT 100x images trend to see what they offer.
OpenAI announcement message includes the full list of updates with GPT Image 1.5, plus some awesome examples of the new image model at work.
Crushable speed of light
Images ChatGPT vs. Nano Banana
Nano Banana is the nickname for Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, Google’s AI image generator. The tool has proven to be remarkably successful as a quick and easy-to-use AI image editor, and as its popularity has grown, Google has integrated it into Gemini, Google Photos, Search, and Messages. So how do the new ChatGPT images compare?
It took about 10 minutes, but GPT-Image-1.5 immediately took first place on LMArena Text-to-Image Rankingplacing Nano Banana Pro in second place. However, concrete examples have so far been a little mixed.
I asked Nano Banana and the new ChatGPT images to edit the same photo and got very similar results.
Using the same prompt and image, I had both models edit a photo of my car from night to day.
The original image
Credit: Joe Hindy
Although both models get a passing grade, Google’s version looks better to me.
LEFT:
The result of Nano Banana.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Google Gemini
RIGHT:
The result of ChatGPT images.
Credit: Joe Hindy/OpenAI
How to try the new ChatGPT images
According to OpenAI, the update is rolling out as we speak to all users, so it should be available for immediate testing. In short, all you need to do is head over to ChatGPT and look for the new Images tab. You can find the tool at chatgpt.com/images. As usual, free users will have very limited access.
The new image model is also available in the OpenAI API and you can check pricing on the OpenAI website. So developers and people with their own AI tools can start using them right away.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in April against OpenAI, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.
