gpt-image-1.5 is removed Dec 1: a 55-day cutover calendar
OpenAI removes gpt-image-1.5, gpt-image-1-mini and chatgpt-image-latest on December 1, 2026. A week-by-week plan from October 7 to move to GPT Image 2.5.
OpenAI removes gpt-image-1-mini, gpt-image-1.5 and chatgpt-image-latest from its API on December 1, 2026, and names gpt-image-2.5-sunburst and gpt-image-2.5-flare as the targets. From October 7 that leaves 55 days. A cutover that ships by mid-November leaves two weeks of slack for the output differences you will find.
The dates
The OpenAI deprecations page (fetched 2026-10-07) lists the three ids with the December 1 removal. The same page lists the Sora Videos API removal on September 24, 2026 with no replacement, and DALL-E removal on May 12, 2026. You have already lived through those, so the lesson is to start the next one earlier.
A week-by-week plan
This is a schedule suggestion, not an OpenAI requirement. On Sume the 2.5 ids are openai/gpt-image-2.5 (Flare) and openai/gpt-image-2.5-sunburst, listed in the Image API docs.
| Week of | Task | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 7 | Search the repo and configs for the three retired ids | A list of every call site |
| Oct 14 | Run 20 real prompts on the 2.5 rows and save outputs | Side-by-side sheet reviewed |
| Oct 21 | Check size, quality and background fields | No 400s in a test run |
| Oct 28 to Nov 11 | Send 10, then 50 percent of traffic | Cost per image logged |
| Nov 18 | Send 100 percent, keep a rollback flag | Flag tested once |
| Dec 1 | OpenAI removes the old ids | Old ids deleted from config |
What changes in the request
Quality values are auto, low, medium, high, xhigh and max on the 2.5 rows. If you omit quality, Sume uses high, and auto reserves the max price, so pin it. Size is set with image_size or aspect_ratio; custom edges must be multiples of 16 with a 3:1 ratio limit. References go up to 16 on the 2.5 rows.
- Pin quality in code, not by default.
- Use Flare for drafts and Sunburst when editing precision matters, per OpenAI descriptions.
- Keep the retired id out of any alias that your own users can still send.
Sources
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