ChatGPT will become worse. OpenAI reassures us that few people will feel this
OpenAI confirmed that next month Several older language models will disappear from ChatGPT. The list included, among others GPT-4oa variant that was one of the most liked by some users due to its natural, warm conversation style.
Maintaining older models limits the pace of development
GPT-4o debuted in May 2024 and quickly gained popularity among users. In August 2025, there was a lot of buzz around this model when the company briefly revoked access to it after the premiere of the newer one. GPT-5.
The decision was met with significant community backlash, prompting OpenAI to quickly reinstate GPT-4o for paying users. Then the CEO of the company, Sam Altmanpublicly declared that the possible withdrawal of this model would be announced in advance.
And it looks like that moment is actually coming. The company admitted that the decision to phase out GPT-4o was not an easy one. However, it was emphasized that maintaining older models limits the pace of development those that most users use today. According to OpenAI data, only 0.1% of people use GPT-4o every daymost people already choose GPT-5.2.
However, the list of models to be removed from ChatGPT is longer. In addition to GPT-4o GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and OpenAI o4-mini will also disappear. Previously, the company had already announced that it would use a chatbot GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking will also be removed. This will only apply to applications, as they will remain available in the form of API.
