It’s official. DALL-E 3 just got kicked to the curb.
OpenAI dropped GPT-4o on March 25, 2025, and it’s changing everything about how we get AI-generated images. No more separate tools or jumping through hoops. GPT-4o just… does it all.
The new model replaces DALL-E 3 as ChatGPT’s default image generator. And honestly? Good riddance. DALL-E 3 was fine, but this is better. Way better.
What’s the big deal?
Let’s break it down:
- Text rendering that actually works (finally!)
- Handles up to 20 different objects in one prompt (try that, DALL-E)
- Creates images based on your uploads as references
- Pulls from its massive training data for more accurate visuals
“This is like having an artist inside your chat. I asked for a cat wearing sunglasses reading Shakespeare and it not only got it right, it included readable text from Hamlet in the image.”
Who gets it?
If you’re on ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, or even the Free plan—you’re in. Developers will get API access in the coming weeks.
Technical stuff that matters
GPT-4o isn’t just DALL-E with a new name. It’s an entirely different approach. The model was trained on joint distributions of images and text, meaning it understands both at the same time.
| Feature | DALL-E 3 | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|
| Text rendering | Often garbled | Accurate |
| Perspective handling | Hit or miss | Consistently accurate |
| Non-English support | Limited | Comprehensive |
| Integration | Separate system | Fully integrated |
Complex images take up to a minute to render. Worth the wait. Trust me.
Better than before
The improvements over DALL-E 3 are obvious:
- Longer blocks of text don’t turn into alphabet soup
- It actually understands what “bird’s eye view” means
- Works with languages beyond English
- Matches GPT-4 Turbo in text and coding tasks
The safety stuff
OpenAI isn’t letting this thing run wild. They’ve built in safeguards:
- Blocks inappropriate content of minors
- Has rules about generating images of public figures
- Public figures can opt out completely
- Aims to minimize fake or misleading content
Is it perfect? No. Will people find ways to abuse it? Probably. But OpenAI says they’re monitoring usage and will adjust as needed.
Let’s be real—this is a big step forward. The wall between talking to AI and getting it to make images just disappeared. And for anyone who’s spent hours crafting the perfect DALL-E prompt only to get bizarre results, this feels like sweet relief.
Welcome to the new normal. DALL-E 3 had a good run, but GPT-4o just changed the game.
