From time to time, OpenAI removes older models from ChatGPT’s model picker, as users become accustomed to newer ones. Here are the models being retired on February 13.
GPT-4o is going away for good
Last August, when OpenAI released GPT-5, it removed GPT-4o from ChatGPT’s model picker without much (or any) warning.
This caused a huge and immediate backlash, as many users had grown accustomed to the tone and behavior of GPT-4o, which many defined as warmer and friendlier than GPT-5’s more straightforward answers.
The pushback prompted OpenAI to restore access to GPT-4o, and sparked intense debates about ethics and the many aspects of people’s emotional attachment to LLMs.
At the time, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said:
4o is back in…