OpenAI Expands DALL-E 2 Access to One Million Users With Paid Credits
OpenAI is rapidly expanding access to its DALL-E 2 image generator, shifting from a free model to a credit-based payment system. The update also introduces new commercial usage rights and improved safety filters to reduce bias and block celebrity deepfakes.
OpenAI expands access to its powerful DALL-E 2 image-generating AI system, inviting roughly one million users off the waitlist over the coming weeks. As part of this beta launch, the platform transitions from a completely free model to a credit-based fee structure, giving first-time users a set number of monthly credits to generate, edit, or vary images. Users who exhaust their free monthly allotment have the option to purchase additional credits in $15 increments, while artists in need of financial support can apply for subsidized access.
This broader rollout is made possible by new techniques designed to mitigate bias and toxicity in the AI's output. OpenAI deploys an updated method that prompts the system to generate images of people reflecting the world's population diversity when a user omits specific race or gender details. Additionally, the company improves its content filters to strictly reject uploaded images containing realistic faces and to block attempts at creating the likenesses of public figures, celebrities, and politicians.
Alongside these safety improvements, OpenAI grants users full commercial rights to monetize their DALL-E 2 creations starting today. Users now have the freedom to reprint, sell, and merchandise the images they generate, which even applies to artwork created during the early preview phase. This policy shift removes the previous restrictions on commercial use, opening up new revenue streams for creators as the AI art tool becomes widely available.