OpenAI is retiring the official DALL-E GPT on August 30, 2026, and the company is recommending users download any images they want to keep before then. While image generation isn't disappearing from ChatGPT, one of its oldest and most recognizable ways to create images is.
The change was announced in OpenAI's ChatGPT release notes and has since been added to the company's help documentation. The advice is straightforward: download any images you want to keep before August 30.
What exactly is going away?
OpenAI is removing the standalone DALL-E GPT, the company's custom version of ChatGPT built specifically for creating images. It's one of the original GPTs introduced after custom GPTs launched and has remained available even as newer image models replaced the technology behind it.
If you've been using the regular ChatGPT app to generate images recently, you've probably already been using OpenAI's newer image system without realizing it.
After August 30, image generation will continue through ChatGPT Images, which uses OpenAI's newer gpt-image-1 models. That experience is already available to Free, Plus, Pro and Business users, while the company's "Images with thinking" feature remains limited to paid plans.
So for most people, creating images in ChatGPT won't change much. Just be sure to check your Image Library and save your oldest images.
How to save and download your images now
OpenAI hasn't explained exactly what will happen to images stored in the DALL-E GPT after it is retired. Rather than promise they'll remain available indefinitely, the company simply recommends downloading anything you want to keep before the deadline.
To save your images:
- Open ChatGP.
- Go to Images
- Open the image you want to keep
- Select Save to download it to your device
It's also worth remembering that deleting a ChatGPT conversation deletes the images stored with it, so if you have artwork tied to an old chat, download it before removing that conversation. If you're struggling to find an older image, ChatGPT's search feature can help locate past conversations where it was created.
Not everything called "DALL-E" is disappearing. According to OpenAI, custom GPTs with image generation enabled will continue to work normally. The retirement only affects the official DALL-E GPT created by OpenAI itself. For most users, that means existing workflows built around custom GPTs won't need to change.
Part of a bigger ChatGPT cleanup
The DALL-E retirement is one of several products OpenAI is winding down this month as it continues consolidating around newer models and experiences.
Earlier this year, the company removed the DALL-E API for developers, replacing it with newer image-generation models. This month also marks the scheduled retirement of the older o3 model inside ChatGPT, while OpenAI's experimental AI browser, ChatGPT Atlas, is also being discontinued. And, earlier this year, OpenAI removed Sora 2.
Be sure to take a look at all the images you've created images with the DALL-E GPT and download them before August 30 if you want to keep them. Once the retirement takes effect, there may not be another chance.
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