ChatGPT’s Popular New Image Generator Now Only Available to Paid Subscribers; Here’s Why?

OpenAI has announced that its highly anticipated GPT-4o-powered image generation tool will now be restricted to paid subscribers only, delaying its rollout to free-tier users.

Originally, the company had planned to deliver the GPT-4o-powered image generator to free-tier members but postponed this release after massive user demand. OpenAI halted the release date for non-paying users subsequent to an overwhelming demand increase.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, CEO Sam Altman explained the decision, stating, “Images in ChatGPT are wayyyy more popular than we expected (and we had pretty high expectations). Rollout to our free tier is unfortunately going to be delayed for awhile.”

The GPT-4o-powered image generator, which can create detailed visuals, including Studio Ghibli-style results, is only available to users with Plus or Pro subscriptions.  Users with both the $20 and $200 monthly subscription rates can use the GPT-4o-powered picture generator.

The new toolkit’s access has been controlled via subscription-based paywalls, mirroring conventional business practices in the technology sector.  Free-tier users can use the prior DALL-E model for image production within the chatbox, but cannot access the new tool.  The newly introduced GPT-4o tool produces higher-quality and more realistic images than DALL-E.

As of now, OpenAI has not provided a timeline for when the image generation feature will be made available to free-tier users.