OpenAI removes the DALL·E 2 and DALL·E 3 model snapshots from its API
OpenAI removes the dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 snapshots from the API on schedule and directs developers to the GPT Image family.
What happened
Event details
OpenAI notified developers on November 14, 2025 that its DALL·E model snapshots would be deprecated, then removed dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 from the API on May 12, 2026. The listed replacements were gpt-image-2, gpt-image-1 and gpt-image-1-mini. The change ended API availability for those named snapshots. It does not rewrite their historical launches or imply that users' previously generated assets were deleted. As of August 2026, OpenAI's ChatGPT help documentation still said that users could access DALL·E through the DALL·E GPT, so the API shutdown should not be described as the model disappearing from every product surface. The catalog marks both models as deprecated while retaining their release and availability history.
Assessment
Why it matters
Retiring both DALL·E API snapshots completed a platform-generation transition with direct consequences for existing integrations, but did not introduce a new model capability.
Availability
Access notes
The dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 API snapshots are offline; OpenAI recommends migration to GPT Image models.