OpenAI is expanding access to its best AI image generator to ChatGPT users who don’t pay a subscription. They can now use the DALL-E 3 model to produce two images per day.
Until now, DALL-E 3 has only been available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, though those who pay the $20 monthly subscription fee can get up to 50 images a day for their money.
DALL-E 3 is a significant improvement over OpenAI’s previous AI image generators, as it can produce photorealistic images, accurate text, and even fill in missing parts of an image with generated content designed to fit the rest of the image, a technique called inpainting.
The two-image limit for free users suggests that OpenAI wants to showcase DALL-E 3 enough to get users to sign up for the subscription service. Of course, one could use Microsoft’s image creator, which also uses DALL-E 3 but has a daily limit of 15 images. However, OpenAI is likely counting on ChatGPT’s full feature set to keep those interested in high-end AI imagery on the platform.
However, making just two images a day is even more limiting than it might initially seem. One of the challenges of AI image generation is the iterative process that is often required to achieve the desired result. Users typically generate multiple images, make adjustments based on the result, and repeat the process until they are satisfied. With only two attempts a day, this approach is basically impossible. Either you settle for at most one edit, or you’ll be stuck waiting a day.
We're rolling out the ability for ChatGPT Free users to create up to two images per day with DALL·E 3. Simply ask ChatGPT to create an image for a slideshow, personalize a card for a friend, or show you what something looks like. pic.twitter.com/3csFTscA5IAugust 8, 2024
Free AI for all
This isn't the first time a seemingly premium ChatGPT feature has made its way to the free tier. Custom GPTs created by third parties were only intended for premium subscribers when they first came out, but now any free ChatGPT user can explore and use them.
The biggest example of ChatGPT’s advanced free-tier offering is the recently released GPT-4o, the company’s most powerful large language model, which is also available to all ChatGPT users. As with DALL-E 3, this comes with some usage restrictions, but it’s still a way to get many more people to experiment with OpenAI’s more advanced AI projects.
That said, the inclusion of DALL-E 3 in the free tier also underscores the growing importance of visual content in digital communication. OpenAI is in a race with Google, Meta, and others to bring out tools that make it quick and easy to generate high-quality images. You're likely to see increasingly better models for free as they compete for your valuable inspiration time.
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