ChatGPT's new image engine promises a host of improvements including better typography, access to the Web and an ability to reason. So Axios put it to the test.Why it matters: Past image engines have proved initially popular with consumers, but had enough flaws to prevent broader use in business.Catch-up quick: ChatGPT Images 2.0 is now live in the app and supports a wide range of aspect ratios and comes in both standard and a "thinking" mode with built-in reasoning.All users will have access to the standard version of the image model, while the thinking mode is reserved for paid subscribers.Zoom in: In the day that I have had access, I gave the new model a wide range of tasks.A friend asked me to make a memorial image of her recently deceased cat along with two favorite toys.
It crafted an image that looked like a highly personalized sympathy card.It elegantly took two photos from my wedding and made it appear as if they were in an old-style photo album with photo corners.My colleagues suggested a poster for a fictional event. I decided to create a Mike Allen look-alike contest in Washington Square Park this Sunday. (Of course, it's only fictional if no one shows up.)It also made a handy infographic making "the case against candy corn" which I used unsuccessfully to convince two colleagues that the treat, which is neither candy nor corn, is also not good.I used it to "clean up" my bedroom, which was filled with gadgets, legos and clothes.
I uploaded a picture of the room with all my mess and it showed what it would look like without my stuff everywhere. I was shocked by how much space we could have, but my partner saw it as a tease and said to let him know when ChatGPT could actually clean the room.It also excelled at turning pictures of me playing softball and my 13-year-old playing soccer into trading cards complete with name, position and team logo, extracted from our uniforms.Yes, but: When I asked it to create a faux newspaper — the "Smart Brevity Times" based on the latest Axios headlines, it first used old articles rather than pulling from today's news.
A second try got the latest stories, but looked more like a mock-up than a finished newspaper.And some of its creations were less than elegant. A mahjong cheat sheet I asked for was accurate but lacked polish.Also, it pays to plan ahead. All that added reasoning means that images can take quite a while to produce.