It used to be easy enough to distinguish between human-made and AI-generated imagery – just two years ago, trying to create a menu for a Mexican restaurant with an AI would result in dishes like ‘enchuita’, ‘churiros’, ‘burrto’, and ‘margartas’.

Now, when I ask the brand new ChatGPT Images 2.0 model for a menu of Mexican food, it creates something that could immediately be used in a restaurant without customers noticing anything amiss. (The ceviche priced at $13.50 might make me question the quality of the fish though.)

OpenAI states that the new model has ‘thinking capabilities’ which allow it to search the web, create multiple images from one prompt, and double-check its creations – effectively creating marketing assets in various sizes or multi-paneled comic strips.

The company also claims that Images 2.0 has a stronger understanding of non-Latin text rendering in languages like Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Bengali, but its knowledge cuts off at December 2025, which could impact the accuracy of certain prompts involving recent news.

These capabilities mean image generation isn’t as instantaneous as typing a question to ChatGPT – generating something complex like a multi-paneled comic still takes just a few minutes. All ChatGPT and Codex users will be able to access Images 2.0 starting Tuesday; paid users will be able to generate more advanced outputs. The company will also make the gpt-image-2 API available, with pricing dependent on the quality and resolution of outputs.