OpenAI is about to drop another bombshell!
Today, a brand new image model, codenamed mona-lisa-1, officially debuted on Arena.
Netizens who got their hands on it for testing were amazed, claiming the output quality of mona-lisa-1 is simply astounding, visibly surpassing GPT Image 2.
The visuals are more realistic, with a noticeable reduction in plastic-like feel.
A New King of GPT Image is Coming
Four months ago, GPT Image 2 made a stunning debut, instantly igniting the AI community.
Back then, Image 2 directly crushed Nano Banana Pro and has remained the undisputed king of AI image generation ever since.
But now, a change is afoot.
A model codenamed "mona-lisa-1" has stealthily entered the LM Arena blind testing leaderboard.
Netizen @AiBattle_ did some hardcore digging, feeding its generated images into OpenAI's verification tool—
Boom! It directly scanned the SynthID watermark! Case cracked, this mysterious big move is yet another one from OpenAI.
It seems this time, OpenAI is dead set on fiercely outdoing itself.
The Plastic Feel is Gone
Developer Riccardo Wolf fed the same prompt into both models.
From the outputs below, it's clear that mona-lisa-1's realism is better, and the plastic feel is somewhat diminished.
From left to right: Image 2(medium); mona-lisa-1; Image 2(high)
Take the generated real-life photo of Ultraman as an example; this improvement in texture is particularly obvious.
In the view of netizen Tim Jayas, mona-lisa-1's output is much richer in detail.
Furthermore, when generating highly artistic and evocative paintings like these, mona-lisa-1 also demonstrates extremely high aesthetic standards.
Whether it's the diffusion of colors, the layering of light and shadow, or the overall atmosphere creation, it has completely shed the stiff "algorithmic taste" of past AI paintings.
Infographics, More Complex
GPT Image was already very good at generating complex infographics.
During testing, someone used mona-lisa-1 to directly generate a webpage UI, with a very realistic visual effect.
Even something extremely detail-intensive like a "Human Organ Dissection Diagram," mona-lisa-1 handles with ease.
Whether it's a high-information-density "GPT-5 One-Page Overview" or an imaginative "ChatGPT Self-Portrait," it can generate them accurately.
It can even imitate Einstein's handwriting and output the finished product directly.
Some say ChatGPT's new image model has once again ended the competition.
A simple prompt can produce an anime-style wallpaper.
There are tons of amazing demos; just look at the images:
The "Brain" Didn't Change
Training Completed Last Year
Observant developers noticed that mona-lisa-1's training was likely completed last year.
@ivanainai conducted 5 consecutive date-related tests, and the model's answers consistently stopped at 2025.
Subsequently, she attempted to have the model process content involving the latest news, all ending in failure. Of course, this is partly because this anonymous version does not have web connectivity enabled.
Interestingly, if we compare horizontally: the knowledge cutoff date for GPT Image 2 is also precisely December 2025.
This means, from the little information revealed so far—
mona-lisa-1 seems more like a new checkpoint on the same generational foundation, not a brain transplant.
In fact, some people's impression after multiple rounds of testing is that mona-lisa-1 is just the medium-sized version of Image 2.5.
On the other hand, the "-1" at the end of the codename almost explicitly hints: there will be more new checkpoints emerging later.
In other words, this version being tested now may not be the final form of the new GPT Image.
If mona-lisa-1 really is just an intermediate checkpoint, then the official version OpenAI finally serves up might take another big step forward.
GPT Image 2 only reached the top four months ago, and OpenAI is already starting to break its own record by hand.
At this pace, by the time the official version is truly released, the ceiling for AI image generation will likely be raised another notch.
Next, it's up to OpenAI to reveal the true face of mona-lisa.
References:
https://x.com/AiBattle_/status/2086405404368503240?s=20
This article is from the WeChat public account "New Zhiyuan", author: ASI Apocalypse, editor: Peach
