OpenAI retires ChatGPT models

OpenAI has started treating ChatGPT like a menu that changes fast and its application programming interface, the developer service that apps plug into, like a shelf that stays stocked longer. On February 13, 2026, ChatGPT retired GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, OpenAI o4-mini, and GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking, while API access stayed unchanged. (help.openai.com) That means a person opening chat.openai.com can lose a model overnight, while a company that built the same model into software through the OpenAI API can keep using it. OpenAI says the retired ChatGPT models will continue to be available through the API and that future API retirements will get advance notice. (help.openai.com) The split is easy to miss because some of these models were introduced to ChatGPT not long before they disappeared from the picker. OpenAI launched GPT-4.1 in the API on April 14, 2025, and later said it was bringing GPT-4.1 directly into ChatGPT because developers had made it a favorite for coding. (openai.com) (help.openai.com) OpenAI’s own documentation now draws a hard line between “available in ChatGPT” and “available in the API.” The GPT-4.1 API page still lists the model family, and the GPT-4o API page still presents GPT-4o as a current model for text and image input, even after both were removed from the ChatGPT product. (developers.openai.com 1) (developers.openai.com 2) For paying organizations, the company briefly left one side door open. OpenAI said ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers could still use GPT-4o inside Custom GPTs until April 3, 2026, even though the regular ChatGPT model list had already dropped it on February 13, 2026. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) That exception has now closed. OpenAI’s retirement notice says GPT-4o was kept in Custom GPTs only until April 3, 2026, and after that date it would be fully retired across all ChatGPT plans. (help.openai.com) The company has been pruning in waves, not with one giant cutoff. OpenAI’s model release notes say GPT-5.1 Instant, GPT-5.1 Thinking, and GPT-5.1 Pro were removed from ChatGPT on March 11, 2026, separate from the February 13 retirements. (help.openai.com) What this leaves behind is a two-track system. ChatGPT is becoming the place where OpenAI pushes people toward its current defaults, while the API is the place where builders get versioned model names, rate limits, and a longer runway before anything disappears. (help.openai.com) (developers.openai.com) For everyday users, the practical change is less choice and more automatic steering toward whatever OpenAI wants as the current chat experience. For businesses, the practical change is that stability now lives less in the ChatGPT sidebar and more in the developer tools that sit behind products, workflows, and internal apps. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2)