Goodbye, ChatGPT-4o: OpenAI will soon retire many models, push new GPT-5 models

Pour a cold drink for ChatGPT-4o. Parent company OpenAI Announce On Thursday, it will retire several of its older models, including GPT-5, GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and o4-mini. The last day to use these forms is Friday, February 13th.

Normally, the neglect of legacy AI models wouldn’t warrant scrutiny — or even a news story — but ChatGPT-4o is special. It’s strange to say, but for many ChatGPT fans, this model is a favorite.

When the company GPT-5 released Last year, GPT-4o was removed from the available options. Many were upset at how this was done Short and unfriendly The new model has been compared to GPT-4o. Some were angry and frustrated that their favorite model was disappearing overnight, with little they could do to get it back. OpenAI brought it back later that week.

Some experts were concerned that GPT-4o and other models had gone too far into flattery. Artificial intelligence flattering This happens when models are overly affectionate and become digital men who approve of users’ dangerous ideas.

This is likely why OpenAI published a Long blog post this week About its thinking behind removing legacy models like GPT-4o.

“We know that losing access to GPT‑4o will be frustrating for some users, and we did not make this decision lightly,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Retiring models is never easy, but it allows us to focus on improving the models most people use today.”

OpenAI said that only 0.1% of its users regularly use GPT-4o to run tasks. That works out to about 800,000 users, based on OpenAI’s latest count 800 million Weekly active users in the 2025 enterprise report.

OpenAI is betting that enough time will pass to avoid angering GPT-4o loyalists as it did before. We’ll soon see if the new GPT-5 models, GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.2, have enough fans.