OpenAI's three Aurora image-model references surface in API and Arena blind tests
TestingCatalog reported that three model references — aurora-red-alpha, aurora-green-alpha and aurora-blue-alpha — briefly appeared in OpenAI's API this weekend and were pulled shortly after, which the outlet read as an accidental rollout. Models with the same names then showed up in blind Arena tests producing images; reviewer Lumina speculated they are GPT-Image-3 and said the red variant was faster but lower quality while green was slower and looked better, without publishing timings or full comparisons. 品玩, citing orcaroute and CellCog, said the three identifiers were created within 97 seconds with the owner field set to system, and OpenAI has not disclosed their identity, documentation or pricing.
智东西 notes OpenAI's last image-model update was ChatGPT Images 2.5 on Sept 8, whose Flare and Sunburst models ranked first and second on Arena's Oct 7 text-to-image leaderboard, which is why the new codenames are being read as a next-generation image model lead.
If fresh leaks and tests are anything to go by, then it looks like OpenAI might be getting GPT-Image-3 ready. Three new model references, aurora-red-alpha, aurora-green-alpha, and aurora-blue-alpha, briefly appeared in OpenAI's API this weekend, and within hours they were turning up in blind arena tests producing images.
We caught the names through an alert on the Dev Mode Discord server. The references were pulled shortly after, which looked like an accidental rollout.
OPENAI 🔥: 3 new model references have been spotted on the APIs recently. - aurora-red-alpha - aurora-green-alpha - aurora-blue-alpha > These model references were removed shortly after so it was a mistake rollout. > The chance that normal users will have a chance to test… pic.twitter.com/hv1fk6mKJf— 🚨 AI News | TestingCatalog (@testingcatalog) October 18, 2026
Lumina soon highlighted that all three models appear to be image models currently tested on Arena. They even shared a second cat from aurora-green-alpha. Of course, two cat portraits won't tell anyone much about quality, but both look clean and detailed. Still, based on the images we've seen so far, none of them look like they'd make you write home about.
#OpenAI#Aurora#GPT-Image-3#ChatGPT Images 2.5#GPT-Image-2.5 Flare#GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst#LMArena#Lumina