OpenAI narrows ChatGPT lineup
OpenAI removed several GPT-4 and GPT-5 variants from ChatGPT’s consumer surface while keeping API access unchanged and reserving GPT-4o access for business and education customers. The company’s Help Center note lists models retired from ChatGPT and confirms enterprise/custom GPTs can still use GPT-4o, signalling tighter front‑end curation while preserving backend developer flexibility. (help.openai.com)
OpenAI has cut several older model options from ChatGPT’s consumer interface while leaving those same models available through its application programming interface. (help.openai.com) The Help Center says GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, OpenAI o4-mini, and GPT-5 in its Instant and Thinking versions were retired from ChatGPT on February 13, 2026. The same note says application programming interface access “remains unchanged.” (help.openai.com) A separate OpenAI retirement notice says GPT-5.1 models were removed from ChatGPT on March 11, 2026 across regular chats and custom GPTs. That notice also says OpenAI plans to give advance warning before any future application programming interface retirements. (help.openai.com) The split is between ChatGPT, which is OpenAI’s consumer product, and the application programming interface, which lets developers plug specific models into their own software. OpenAI’s current policy keeps the back-end menu broader than the front-end picker. (help.openai.com) OpenAI also gave business and campus customers a temporary exception for GPT-4o inside custom GPTs. Help Center pages for ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu say those customers kept GPT-4o access in custom GPTs until April 3, 2026, after which GPT-4o was “fully retired across all plans.” (help.openai.com) The same retirement language now appears across multiple OpenAI support pages, including release notes, enterprise model-limit pages, and GPT creation documentation. That shows the change was not limited to one help article or one subscription tier. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) For people using ChatGPT directly, the practical change is a shorter list of model names to choose from. For developers, the practical change is smaller: OpenAI says the retired ChatGPT models still remain available in the application programming interface. (help.openai.com) OpenAI’s own GPT builder documents say custom GPTs affected by the February 13 retirement would automatically move to the closest GPT-5.2 equivalent. That let OpenAI remove legacy choices from ChatGPT without leaving older GPTs unusable. (help.openai.com) The result is a narrower public ChatGPT lineup and a wider developer back end, with the cutoff dates spelled out in OpenAI’s support pages rather than in a separate product launch post. (help.openai.com)
