TODAY
● What goes: the official DALL·E GPT inside ChatGPT, retired 30 August 2026.
● What stays: image generation. ChatGPT Images is the replacement, on every tier including free.
● Not affected: custom GPTs with image generation enabled. Only OpenAI's own official one.
● Do this now: download anything you made through the DALL·E GPT that you want to keep.
What is actually happening
OpenAI announced in its 31 July ChatGPT release notes that the official DALL·E GPT would be retired on 30 August 2026, recommending users download any images they want to keep before then and pointing them to ChatGPT Images for creating and editing going forward.
The DALL·E GPT was a standalone pre-built assistant in the GPT store, one of the originals, and the reason a lot of people still say "DALL-E" when they mean ChatGPT's image feature. Most users switched to ChatGPT Images long ago without noticing.
THE GAP IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT
OpenAI supplied a cutoff date and a download recommendation. It has not stated what happens to images generated through the old GPT after today.
They may remain accessible in your conversation history. They may not. The advice to download is the only guidance given, and in the absence of anything more specific it should be treated as the answer.
How to find and save them
- Search your conversations. ChatGPT's search finds past chats where an image was created, which is faster than scrolling.
- Download rather than screenshot. A screenshot loses resolution and metadata.
- Note that ChatGPT Images has a gallery. Anything made through ChatGPT Images saves automatically to a gallery separate from chat history, reachable on mobile through the Images tab. That is new behaviour compared to the old GPT, where people kept a running conversation as an ad-hoc archive.
The confusion worth clearing up
Several reports have blurred two separate events.
| Event |
When |
Who it affects |
| DALL·E GPT in ChatGPT |
30 August 2026 |
ChatGPT users |
| dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 API models |
12 May 2026 |
Developers. Already gone |
| OpenAI o3 in ChatGPT |
26 August 2026 |
Paid users via model settings |
If you are a developer, today changes nothing for you — the API deprecation happened in May, announced back in November 2025. And the two should not be inferred from each other: OpenAI's 31 July notice names the ChatGPT surface only and does not announce an API change.
What ChatGPT Images gives you instead
ChatGPT Images runs on OpenAI's newer gpt-image models, introduced in November 2025. It is available on all tiers including free accounts. The variant with visible reasoning steps, which OpenAI calls Images with thinking, is limited to Plus, Pro and Business, with Enterprise and Edu to follow.
For most people the practical difference is that images now live in a dedicated gallery rather than scattered through conversations, which is an improvement once you stop looking for them in chat history.
The pattern this belongs to
DALL·E is one of several things OpenAI has wound down this month. The o3 model left ChatGPT on 26 August after a 90-day sunset. The experimental Atlas browser was discontinued, with the capability folded into the desktop app instead. GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.4 mini leave Codex tomorrow for anyone signed in with a ChatGPT account.
The direction is consolidation — fewer separate surfaces, more capability folded into the main product. That is generally good for new users and mildly disruptive for anyone whose workflow depended on a specific surface. If you have automations or habits built around a named tool rather than a capability, this month is a reminder to check which.
Sources
FAQ
Is image generation leaving ChatGPT?
No. Only the official DALL·E GPT is retiring. ChatGPT Images continues on every tier including free accounts.
Will I lose my old images?
OpenAI has not said what happens to images generated through the DALL·E GPT after 30 August. It recommends downloading anything you want to keep, and in the absence of clearer guidance that is the safe course.
Does this affect custom GPTs I built?
No. User-created GPTs with image generation enabled are explicitly unaffected. Only OpenAI's own official DALL·E GPT is being removed.
Does this affect the DALL-E API?
No, and they are separate events. The dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 API models were removed on 12 May 2026, announced in November 2025. Today's change is a ChatGPT product retirement only.
Where do my new images go?
ChatGPT Images saves to a dedicated gallery separate from chat history, reachable through the Images tab on mobile. That replaces the habit some people had of keeping a running DALL·E conversation as an archive.
What else is OpenAI retiring?
The o3 model left ChatGPT on 26 August after a 90-day sunset, the Atlas browser has been discontinued in favour of one inside the desktop app, and GPT-5.4 leaves Codex on 31 August for ChatGPT sign-in users.