# OpenAI image generation 25 Hacker News commenters recommended OpenAI image generation and 23 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for realistic images, text inside images, and quick one-off edits that often match the prompt on the first try. Critics say edits can change faces and scene details. ## Why people recommend it - Strong results on first try (3 comments): "With OpenAI I usually got what I wanted on the first or second try" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319259)) "I don't recall ANY examples where it completely failed to do anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45894086)) "It's not super deterministic but it didn't fail once on my attempts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854379)) - Better than rival image models (3 comments): "I find the OpenAI results head-and-shoulders above the others" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45892167)) "this thing is like 5x better than flash at fine grain detail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47857458)) "it's just as good as OpenAI's image create, if not better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45810536)) - Realistic images good for pro use (2 comments): "Much of what can be produced by eg. the openai's image 2.5 model is more-or-less indistinguishable from a person's work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49673956)) "they truly look real and good enough for pro use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47861206)) - Text inside images looks good (2 comments): "the outputs including text are astonishing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48179121)) "The text work inside the images are nice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47859095)) ## What people warn about - Often misses prompt or details (4 comments): "OpenAI strait up failed to do the prompt a large fraction of the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893919)) "Images 2 really struggles, and has yet to complete one I was satisfied with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47861915)) "the actual details are always wrong, such as showing pawns in wrong locations, missing pawns" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47855620)) - Alters faces and scene details (3 comments): "OpenAI would alter the structure of their head (making it rounder), eyes (making them rounder)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45891686)) "I've noticed that OpenAI modifies faces on a regular basis." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45892477)) "It's also changing scene features too. Like removed background trees." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45892896)) - Color cast and blurring (3 comments): "intentionally-crappy orange-cyan palette on everything the model generates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45893077)) "the 'piss filter' of openAI image generation hasn't been fixed yet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45891876)) "OpenAI blurs the entire image car and ground fairly uniformly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45895578)) - Guardrails block public domain subjects (2 comments): "OpenAI wouldn't make me a Looney Tunes Roadrunner Martin Scorsese "Absolute Cinema" parody" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47867845)) "OpenAI has ridiculous guardrails for illustrations covering any public domain subject" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45813371)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Nano Banana](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nano-banana-pro.md): 265 recommend - [gpt-image-1](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-image-1-5.md): 79 recommend - [FLUX.2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/flux-2.md): 66 recommend - [gpt-image-2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-image-2.md): 63 recommend - [Qwen-Image](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen-image-2-1.md): 47 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://openai.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "OpenAI image generation", https://hackerapproved.com/p/openai-image-generation-model/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).