TRYING IT ON: If all the hubbub around artificial intelligence makes it feel like the technology has finally moved into the real world, the reverse is also becoming true.
OpenAI updated its ChatGPT Images to version 2.5 on Thursday, adding in new features, including virtual try-on and a way for shoppers to save items they like in their library.
While virtual try-on or favorites functionality are nothing new online, anything ChatGPT changes for its 1.2 billion weekly users can be meaningful.
For virtual try-on, users upload a selfie and then hit “try on” in shopping results or also upload a picture of a style that’s caught their eye.
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“Images 2.5 produces more natural lighting and richer textures, is better at preserving the subjects in your reference photos, and follows editing instructions more reliably across multiple turns,” OpenAI said.
“The most meaningful images feel grounded in the real-life people, places, and memories they’re based on,” the company said. “Images 2.5 is better at working from reference photos to transform familiar subjects across new settings, visual styles and compositions.”
The fashion industry is still trying to figure out just how to use AI to connect with consumers in a rapidly changing shopping landscape.
In a report this summer, Adobe said: “In May 2026, AI-referred retail visitors converted at a rate 54 percent higher than non-AI traffic. That gap has completely flipped from a year ago, when AI visitors were converting at nearly half the rate of their non-AI counterparts.”
The research also found that AI-referred visitors to a site stayed 53 percent longer than visitors from other channels.
