OpenAI reshuffles products

OpenAI has been doing three things at once inside ChatGPT: deleting older model buttons from the app, changing what people pay, and building the machinery to sell ads. The product looks simpler on the surface, but the business behind it is getting more segmented. (help.openai.com) (lifehacker.com) (emarketer.com) The quietest change was the model picker. OpenAI says GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, OpenAI o4-mini, and GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking were retired from ChatGPT on February 13, 2026. (help.openai.com) That does not mean those models disappeared everywhere. OpenAI says application programming interface access stayed unchanged, so developers could keep calling the same models even after regular ChatGPT users stopped seeing them in the chat window. (help.openai.com) For companies and schools, OpenAI gave one temporary exception. Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers kept GPT-4o inside custom GPTs until April 3, 2026, and OpenAI’s help pages say GPT-4o was fully retired across all plans after that date. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) The replacement is a narrower lineup built around newer GPT-5 variants. OpenAI’s release notes describe GPT-5 as the default system for logged-in users, with older conversations moving onto GPT-5.3 Instant, GPT-5.4 Thinking, or GPT-5.4 Pro depending on what they used before. (help.openai.com) At the same time, OpenAI moved the price ladder. Lifehacker reported on April 10, 2026 that ChatGPT Pro was cut from $200 a month to $100 a month, while a higher-usage $200 Pro plan stayed available for people who hit coding limits more often. (lifehacker.com) That pricing move lines up with a more crowded market for premium coding assistants. Lifehacker said OpenAI’s new $100 starting point directly targets Anthropic’s Claude Code plan at the same monthly price, which turns the fight from “who has the fanciest model” into “who can offer the most usage for the same bill.” (lifehacker.com) Below Pro, OpenAI has also been testing a cheaper ad-supported path. Lifehacker reported in January 2026 that ChatGPT Go expanded broadly, including to the United States, and that ads were being added for free users and for that lower-cost tier. (lifehacker.com) Now the ad experiment is getting more formal. eMarketer reported on April 10, 2026 that OpenAI launched its first ads manager and cut the minimum spend for the ChatGPT ad pilot to $50,000 from $200,000, which makes the pilot easier for smaller brands and agencies to test. (emarketer.com) eMarketer also reported on March 27, 2026 that OpenAI said its United States ChatGPT ads pilot had already crossed $100 million in annualized revenue and was being extended beyond April, with international expansion starting in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. (emarketer.com) Put together, the pattern is pretty clear: one cleaner ChatGPT app for most people, application programming interface access for builders who need continuity, premium tiers for heavy users, and ads plus cheaper plans for everyone else. OpenAI is making the front end look less like a toolbox full of model names and more like a single product with different price tags behind the curtain. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) (emarketer.com)