As of September 8, 2026, ChatGPT Images has received a substantial upgrade, taking it from version 2.0 to 2.5.
Beyond just taking your uploaded photos and making them look even prettier, this update adds a host of features that make it even more efficient at handling your photo-related requests. According to the official OpenAI blog announcing the news of ChatGPT Images 2.5, ChatGPT’s latest image editing tool can produce more natural lighting, generate richer textures and is more capable of following your photo editing instructions more reliably as it works across iterative prompts and is much better at preserving multiple subjects in your reference pics.
ChatGPT Images users will also be happy to know that 2.5 works even faster than 2.0 since it generates images 50% faster than its predecessor. And with the introduction of “Sketch,” users can draw directly into ChatGPT and use it as a reference for the final image you’d like to see edited. Currently, ChatGPT Images is available to all ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex users across desktop, mobile, and web.
The ChatGPT Images 2.5 blog showed off some cool examples of before-and-after pics that it's capable of delivering. But I asked ChatGPT to offer me some fun prompts worth experimenting with this update. Here are the 7 best ones (with two visual examples of the ones that ended up being my faves).
Make ChatGPT Images 2.5. do more than just “make me a cool picture”
Just like before, using ChatGPT Images is as simple as clicking on the “+” button inside the prompt bar, uploading a photo from your computer or attaching one that’s already in your ChatGPT library and tapping on the + button again to access the “Create image” option. Then, with your chosen photo and the Create Image option activated, enter your prompt to see what newly refined visuals ChatGPT can produce.
As far as fun image-creating and editing prompts go, these are the best ones ChatGPT generated for me (with one of them being a super viral one that I’ve seen all over my timeline):
- It’s time to go retro: Show me what I would look like if I was in the '80s.
- Turn yourself into a movie poster: Using this photo of me as the reference, turn me into the star of a huge Hollywood action movie. Create an original movie title, tagline, billing block, and release date. Make the poster look like a legitimate theatrical one-sheet, with dramatic lighting, cinematic composition, and an expensive blockbuster aesthetic. Keep my face and recognizable features highly consistent with the reference photo.
- Give yourself 7 completely different lives: Using this photo of me as the reference, create a set of seven distinct portraits showing me in seven alternate lives: astronaut, rock star, medieval knight, professional wrestler, video game hero, detective in a 1940s film noir, and futuristic cyberpunk bounty hunter. Keep my face, age, and recognizable features consistent in every version, but completely transform my clothing, environment, and styling.
- Create your own action figure: Turn me into a collectible action figure displayed inside a premium toy package. The packaging should have a fictional character name, an illustrated background, accessories that reflect my hobbies, and a realistic plastic window. Make it look like an actual product photographed for a major toy retailer. Include three accessories and a humorous “special ability” on the packaging. Preserve my recognizable appearance from the reference photo.
- Recreate your childhood photo — in the future: Using this photo as the reference, create a photorealistic version of the same scene taking place 30 years in the future. Preserve the people, poses, and important visual details from the original photograph, but update their clothing, surroundings, technology, architecture, and environment to reflect a believable future. Make it feel like an authentic photograph from that future rather than science fiction concept art.
- Make a ridiculous “Where Are They Now?” photo: Take the people in this photograph and imagine where they would realistically be 20 years later. Preserve their identities and recognizable facial features, age them appropriately, and create a completely new candid photograph showing what their lives might look like. Give each person a different believable career, outfit, and environment. Make the result feel like an authentic documentary photograph rather than an AI-generated image.
- Turn the worst doodle you've ever drawn into something awesome (You can type @Sketch in ChatGPT and draw directly in the interface): Turn my rough sketch into a spectacular finished illustration. Keep the basic shapes, positioning, and idea from my drawing, but transform it into a highly detailed fantasy scene with dramatic lighting, believable textures, and professional concept-art quality. Do not “fix” the underlying concept — make my terrible drawing look intentionally awesome.
To see if ChatGPT Images 2.5’s highly lauded features were worth all the hype, I threw in two of my photos to see if the chatbot could make me look like a super cool ‘80s icon and a blockbuster action movie star. I was pleased with the finished results—let me know if you feel the same:
Final thoughts
I haven’t messed around with ChatGPT Images in a while, so the release of its 2.5 update seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if it's worth taking for a spin. I’ll be sure to comb Reddit threads, my social media timelines and ChatGPT itself for a mix of other fun prompts I can try out with Images 2.5 to see what other cool images I can generate of me, my friends and my family.
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