In a major move to capture the booming artificial intelligence image creation market, OpenAI announced the launch of a dedicated image tool within its ChatGPT mobile app on Tuesday. The new feature, called ChatGPT Images, is seen as a direct competitor to Google's viral Nano Banana, which took the tech world by storm earlier this year.
The New Contender: ChatGPT Images
OpenAI stated that ChatGPT Images will function through a special 'images' mode powered by its latest foundational AI models. This tool is designed to both edit existing pictures and generate brand-new visuals and illustrations from text prompts. The company highlighted that image generation is already among the top 10 most popular uses of ChatGPT in India today, signaling strong local demand.
The platform promises higher precision in understanding user prompts and improved efficiency. "Users can create new images while others are still rendering, making iterative tasks like updating visuals, refining layouts, or removing elements significantly more efficient," OpenAI explained in its press statement. This capability could be a game-changer for designers and content creators seeking rapid prototyping.
Market Disruption and Massive Projections
OpenAI's entry follows the explosive success of Google's Nano Banana. Google revealed that its tool was adopted by a staggering 1.3 crore (13 million) users within just four days of its launch. This viral growth set a high bar for consumer AI applications.
The surge in AI image tools is expected to profoundly disrupt the creative industry. Market stakeholders project that nearly 80% of jobs in creative design could be affected by technologies like Nano Banana and ChatGPT Images. The financial stakes are enormous. A Grand View Research report from August forecasts that the AI image generator market will generate a colossal $61 billion in revenue by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 35%.
Competitive Landscape and Unanswered Questions
The battle for AI image supremacy is heating up. Key players now include:
- Google's Nano Banana: The viral sensation that gained mainstream popularity.
- OpenAI's ChatGPT Images: The newly launched integrated mobile tool.
- Adobe's Firefly AI: Integrated into its creative suite and trained exclusively on Adobe-owned content to sidestep copyright issues.
However, the launch raises several critical questions that OpenAI has not yet fully addressed. It remains unclear whether ChatGPT Images will include specific safeguards against copyright infringement claims, a point of criticism faced by Nano Banana regarding user privacy and commercial use. OpenAI also did not clarify if businesses can implement the tool locally on their own proprietary datasets.
Furthermore, the language support for the new image mode is in question. While Google DeepMind's senior director, Manish Gupta, announced native support for 29 Indic languages, ChatGPT currently supports 12. OpenAI has not stated if ChatGPT Images will work only in English or extend to other languages, a crucial factor for adoption in India's diverse linguistic landscape.
The announcement underscores the intense competition among Big Tech firms to dominate AI-powered creative tools and process Indic languages locally, marking a new chapter in India's digital transformation.
