Apple Routes Image Playground Requests to ChatGPT for First Time

Apple's Image Playground now allows users to access ChatGPT-powered image styles beyond its native Animation, Illustration, and Sketch modes as of September 2025. The integration requires explicit user opt-in and routes requests off-device to OpenAI's servers — a departure from Apple's on-device-first approach to Apple Intelligence. The expansion signals Apple's willingness to compose external model capabilities for specific tasks while maintaining user consent boundaries.