10 SaaS ideas you can build today with gpt-image-1 🔥

So… OpenAI casually dropped a new API last week—gpt-image-1—and it might be one of the most slept-on launches they’ve done.

No crazy launch, just a mention in their docs and a subtle "oh by the way" by Sam Altman.

But what it does is wild.

It lets you send image(s) and/or a prompt, and the model returns a fully edited version of it. Better yet, it works with transparent images (like mockups). That might not sound like much… until you realize this unlocks the ability to generate fully custom, branded content at scale.

Think product images. Think thumbnails. Think merch. Think ads.

We got curious. So we decided to build something with it.

Meet Prompt2Swag—AI-powered merch in one prompt

The idea was simple:

“What if anyone could design a t-shirt with a prompt and have it shipped to their door in a few clicks?”

In two days, we had a working app.
No designers, no dev team—just gpt-image-1, a few APIs, and Replit open the whole time while we figured it out as we went.

You type something like: “I want a Ghibli-inspired graphic that depicts 100 men vs 1 gorilla”

And the app returns a design. We show it on a mockup. You pick your size, your color, hit order.

Behind the scenes, it hooks into Printify for fulfillment, Stripe for payments, and users can even open their own shop where with each sale, they get a commission!

A fully built micro-saas.

We call it Prompt2Swag, and it’s live if you want to check it out.

But this isn’t really about t-shirts.

This is about what this new API unlocks.

We’re not the only ones jumping on it. Builders across X are already experimenting in the wild:

• Nico built an AI ad generator that allows you to generate multiple concepts and edit the outputs, all within 10 minutes

• Ian shares 10 ideas to build a profitable micro-saas using the new gpt-image-1 API (specifically for vibe coders)

• Connor’s thinking 10 steps ahead on how this impacts SaaS creation, sharing ideas for an Children's Book Illustration Generator, AI Profile Picture Generator, and more

This feels like the early days of gpt-3 again.
Only now it’s visual.

Steal this idea

Here’s one angle we can’t stop thinking about:

Build a tool where users upload their old product images, and gpt-image-1 upgrades them, adds better lighting, background, colors, maybe even a seasonal version. Think Etsy shop owners. Small brands. Creators.

Charge monthly. Add batching. Make it a plug-and-play tool.

Hell, you could probably build it in a weekend.

This is it.

Every time OpenAI drops something like this, we get a new building block.
And every time, the gap between idea and execution gets smaller.

You no longer need to “get into tech” to start something.

You just need to get curious.

This is the fun part. Let’s build.