ChatGPT removes legacy models from its options, dropping GPT‑4o and older variants

OpenAI removed GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and o4-mini from ChatGPT on February 13, 2026, shrinking the app’s model picker again. (openai.com) The company said the ChatGPT retirement happened alongside the previously announced removal of GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking from the app. OpenAI’s help pages now list those models as no longer available in ChatGPT. (openai.com) (help.openai.com) OpenAI did not make the same change to its application programming interface, or API. Its retirement notice says API access to GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and o4-mini remained unchanged. (openai.com) (help.openai.com) That split matters for companies that build on OpenAI models in two places at once: inside ChatGPT and through software integrations. A model can disappear from the ChatGPT menu while still staying live for developers in the API. (openai.com) (help.openai.com) OpenAI gave one group a temporary exception. Business, Enterprise and Edu customers kept GPT-4o inside Custom GPTs until April 3, 2026, after the broader February 13 retirement. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) By late April 2026, OpenAI’s support pages said GPT-4o was fully retired across all plans after that April 3 cutoff. The same pages direct users to newer ChatGPT model options instead of the older set. (help.openai.com 1) (help.openai.com 2) The change also clarifies that “ChatGPT” and “OpenAI API” are now separate product surfaces with different model lifecycles. OpenAI’s January 29 post framed the removals as a way to focus on the models “most people use today.” (openai.com) For users who built routines around GPT-4o in the app, the practical result is simple: the old names are gone from ChatGPT, and staying on them now means leaving the app and using the API instead. (help.openai.com) (openai.com)