OpenAI prunes ChatGPT models
OpenAI said it has retired several GPT variants from the ChatGPT interface while keeping API access unchanged and preserving GPT‑4o availability for paying business, enterprise and education customers within custom GPTs. (help.openai.com) The change appears aimed at simplifying the public product stack while maintaining continuity for organisational users that rely on specific model access. (help.openai.com)
OpenAI has removed several older models from the ChatGPT app, narrowing what users can pick in the interface while leaving developer access in place. (openai.com) OpenAI said that, as of February 13, 2026, GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, OpenAI o4-mini, and GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking were retired from ChatGPT and are no longer available there. The company said application programming interface, or API, access was unchanged. (help.openai.com) The company also said ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers could keep using GPT-4o inside Custom GPTs until April 3, 2026. A separate Help Center page now says that after April 3, GPT-4o is fully retired across all plans. (help.openai.com, help.openai.com) OpenAI framed the move as a product cleanup. In its retirement notice, the company said dropping older options lets it focus on improving “the models most people use today.” (openai.com) The split between ChatGPT and the API shows how OpenAI now runs two tracks: a consumer-facing app with fewer choices, and a developer platform where older models can remain available longer. OpenAI’s API deprecations page lists separate shutdown dates for API models, including a February 17, 2026 removal for chatgpt-4o-latest. (developers.openai.com, help.openai.com) The change also affects user-built bots inside ChatGPT. OpenAI said GPTs using retired models would automatically move to the closest GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.4 Thinking and Pro equivalent. (help.openai.com) Not every GPT-4o-branded feature disappeared with the text model. OpenAI said ChatGPT Voice and ChatGPT Images were not changing in this update, even though Voice uses a similar base model lineage. (help.openai.com) The pruning fits a faster release cycle across OpenAI’s product line. 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, less than a month after the February retirements. (help.openai.com) For ChatGPT users, the practical result is simpler than the model list suggests: fewer legacy names in the picker, automatic migration for older custom bots, and a sharper divide between what the app offers and what developers can still call through the API. (help.openai.com, developers.openai.com)
