OpenAI has officially announced the retirement of multiple AI models from its ChatGPT platform, effective February 13, 2026. The GPT-4o model, which was introduced in May 2024 and gained attention for its natural conversational style, will be completely removed from the platform despite receiving significant interest from paid users. Along with GPT-4o, the company will also retire GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini. Additionally, OpenAI confirmed that the previously announced GPT-5 Instant and GPT-5 Thinking models will also be removed from the chat interface.
According to usage data shared by OpenAI, only 0.1% of users currently utilize GPT-4o on a daily basis. The overwhelming majority of users have migrated to GPT-5.2. In its official statement, the company acknowledged the difficulty of this decision, stating, "We know that losing access to GPT-4o will be frustrating for some users, and we didn't make this decision lightly." The announcement emphasized that streamlining the model portfolio and redirecting resources to more widely used models is an operational priority. Recent improvements in model personality, customization options, and creative output quality in the new model family have paved the way for GPT-4o's complete deactivation.
GPT-4o has had a turbulent history since its launch. Introduced in May 2024, the model was briefly removed following the announcement of GPT-5 in August, only to be reinstated after user backlash. At the time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promised that users would be notified in advance if the model were to be retired in the future. The company has kept this promise by announcing the February change ahead of time. The decision to fully retire GPT-4o reflects both the shift in user preferences and OpenAI's strategic focus on its latest generation of models.
OpenAI specifically noted that this change does not affect API usage. The removal of retired models from the ChatGPT interface does not automatically terminate API access. Model access on the API side will continue according to existing contract and version policies, and the company will provide advance notice before any future API retirements. This distinction is crucial for application developers and teams using enterprise integrations. ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers will retain access to GPT-4o within Custom GPTs until March 31, 2026. After that date, GPT-4o will be fully retired across all plans, and all conversations will default to GPT-5.2. Voice mode and image generation features will remain unchanged, as they use different models despite sharing similar base architecture with GPT-4o.