OpenAI announces the retirement of several older ChatGPT models, a decision that will be effective from February 13, 2026.
This measure will affect GPT-4 models, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-minithus marking a definitive transition towards the GPT-5 series.
Currently, the version most used by users is GPT-5.2, so it makes sense to retire previous models, especially to free up resources.
Although platform users will lose access to Legacy models, There will be no changes for those who use them through the APIswhich will allow third-party developers to continue integrating them into their applications.
The GPT-4o model was especially relevant when it was launched in May 2024, as it closed the gap between GPT-3.5 and the more sophisticated version of GPT-4. Currently, it is estimated that only 0.1% of users use it daily.
The launch of GPT-5 in the middle of last year drew some criticism for a perceived change in the model’s personality. OpenAI responded with GPT-5.1, adjusting the tone to make it friendlier and warmer.
OpenAI continues to work on future updates for its more advanced models and, to compensate for the retirement of older models, sand will focus on improvements in creativity, customization and logic tuning.
With this withdrawal, OpenAI seeks to concentrate its efforts on its most advanced models and maintain ChatGPT’s competitiveness against other artificial intelligence systems.