Innovation Profs - 12/23/2025

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Latest Gen AI News

OpenAI continues on its ‘code red’ warpath with new image generation model

OpenAI has launched a new version of its ChatGPT Images tool called GPT Image 1.5, which can generate images up to four times faster and follow user instructions more accurately while offering improved editing controls. The update is part of a competitive push after the company declared a “code red” internally to respond to rivals like Google’s Gemini and Nano Banana Pro models. This release is available to all ChatGPT users and through the API, aiming to strengthen OpenAI’s position in the fast-evolving AI image generation space. Read more about it in our tool of the week below.

OpenAI opens ChatGPT App Store for submissions, eyes “AI-native” economy

OpenAI has officially opened the doors for developers to submit third-party apps for review and publication within ChatGPT. These “apps” allow users to perform real-world actions—such as ordering groceries, designing slide decks, or searching for apartments—directly through @ mentions or a new dedicated app directory. To support the launch, OpenAI released a new Apps SDK and UI library, with plans to roll out the first set of approved apps early next year.

Google Gemini 3 Flash outperforms previous flagship at a fraction of the cost

Google launched Gemini 3 Flash, a “lightweight” model that outperforms the previous generation’s flagship, Gemini 2.5 Pro, on 18 out of 20 major benchmarks. Despite its superior reasoning capabilities, the new model runs three times faster and is priced 69% lower than its predecessor. Gemini 3 Flash introduces four distinct “thinking modes” (Minimal, Low, Medium, and High) allowing developers to scale reasoning power based on the complexity of the task. Google has already integrated Flash as the default model in the Gemini app and AI-powered Search, effectively providing free-tier users with flagship-level intelligence at a fraction of the traditional computational cost.

Quick tip: Send a 🎁 emoji to ChatGPT for a holiday surprise. And check the ChatGPT sidebar for your Year in Review.

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Quick Hits

Tool of the week: ChatGPT Images

As you read above, ChatGPT released a new version of ChatGPT Images last week, powered by a new image generation model. This new model excels at image editing, keeping the details you want while making the changes you ask for.

More features include:

• Executing different types of editing, including adding, subtracting, combining, blending, and transposing

• Following instructions

• Text rendering for denser and smaller text

• Rendering many small faces

There’s even a new interface to access images. Click on the image tab on the left of your screen to enter a page that not only shows you previously-created images, but lets you create images in different styles, including the viral one we used in our AI image of the week below.

AI-generated image of the week

We had to hop on the latest viral holiday photo trend using ChatGPT’s new image model (although Prof. Snider does own this exact same suit).

Prompt: Create an ultra-realistic 8K Christmas portrait using a 55mm lens with bright, playful holiday lighting. The men are in a whimsical candy-cane themed photoshoot, surrounded by pink giant peppermint decorations, snowy ground, festive trees, and oversized ornaments.
Use their real facial features exactly as they are — do NOT change or alter their faces in any way.  

Each one wears a sparkly white candy cane suit, fitted and shimmering with sequins. Each is sitting on a white cube block. Their expressions are playful and confident, smiling warmly toward the camera.

In their hands, they holds a giant pink-and-white peppermint lollipop prop, resting it over their shoulder in a fun, candy-land pose. Around them is a fully decorated Christmas set:
• Snowy ground with fluffy artificial snow
• Christmas trees dusted with frost, decorated with pink ornaments and string lights
• Oversized and canes framing whimsical beside them
• A large shiny red Christmas ornament near their feet

Lighting should be bright, clean, and festive, capturing the glimmer of the sequins and the pink candy-themed props. The colors are vibrant reds, whites, and silvers, giving a magical North Pole holiday studio vibe.

What we found

Anthropic released Claude for Chrome, an extension for your Chrome browser that works directly in your browser, automating tasks and taking actions on your behalf. Through natural language, users can navigate websites, fill out forms, extract data, and run multi-step workflows.

So far, the extension has a rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars in the Chrome web store.

We tried it

Turn your brand into a limited edition sneaker drop with one prompt in Nano Banana (see the prompt by clicking the tweet below).

Of course we tried it with our brand (and a few other iconic Iowa brands over on Instagram).