OpenAI Announces Retirement of GPT-4o and Older Models from ChatGPT

TLDR

OpenAI on January 29, 2026 announced that GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini will leave ChatGPT on February 13, 2026, joining the already planned retirement of GPT‑5 Instant and Thinking. OpenAI said the vast majority of usage had moved to GPT‑5.2, with only ~0.1% of users still picking GPT‑4o each day. API model availability was not changed in the announcement.

What’s being retired

From OpenAI’s primary post “Retiring GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini in ChatGPT”:

• Effective date: February 13, 2026 in ChatGPT.
• Models removed from ChatGPT: GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4.1 mini, o4-mini (plus previously announced GPT‑5 Instant/Thinking path).
• Rationale: Improvements in place on newer models; usage concentrated on GPT‑5.2; GPT‑4o daily choosers ~0.1%.
• API: No changes at time of announcement—developers could continue using listed models via API under separate deprecation schedules if any.

The announcement gave roughly two weeks for power users still pinned to 4o-class models in the product picker to migrate habits and workflows.

Why this story matters

Model retirement is product hygiene and cost control: fewer parallel serving stacks, clearer default UX, and pressure on users who preferred older “personality” models. Ending GPT‑4o in ChatGPT closes a chapter of the post-GPT-4 era and locks the consumer product onto the 5.x generation ahead of later 2026 launches.

Sources

• OpenAI: “Retiring GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini in ChatGPT” (openai.com/index/retiring-gpt-4o-and-older-models/, January 29, 2026). Primary.

Featured Image Alt Text

ChatGPT model picker with GPT-4o grayed out and GPT-5.2 highlighted as the successor default path.

Tags

OpenAI, GPT-4o, Model Retirement, ChatGPT, GPT-5.2, Products