The end of GPT-4o

The GPT-40 model will be completely phased out. Photo: Cnet .

OpenAI is preparing to "remove" one of the ChatGPT models most beloved by the community. The company says it will stop supporting several older models in the near future and replace them with newer GPT-5 versions.

OpenAI announced on January 29th that GPT-4o, along with several other models such as GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and o4-mini, would be removed from the platform. The last day users could access these models was February 13th.

Typically, discontinuing support for an older AI model doesn't generate much attention. However, GPT-4o is an exception. For many long-time users, it's considered one of the most beloved models thanks to its more natural, friendly, and emotionally engaging response style compared to its successors.

When OpenAI released GPT-5 last year, the company removed GPT-4o from its default selection list. This decision met with negative reactions from some users, who felt the new model was too concise and less user-friendly compared to GPT-4o.

Many people expressed disappointment that their favorite model disappeared almost overnight with no way to recover it. Under pressure from the community, the AI giant brought GPT-4o back just a few days later.

However, some experts also warn that the friendliness of GPT-4o sometimes goes beyond what is necessary. The phenomenon of "flattery" in AI occurs when the model tends to become a worthless tool, readily confirming or encouraging the user's dangerous ideas instead of remaining neutral.

This may be one of the reasons OpenAI decided to end the lifecycle of GPT-4o. Additionally, the company posted a lengthy blog post explaining its strategy for phasing out older models.

“We know that losing access to GPT-4o will be frustrating for some users, and this wasn’t an easy decision,” OpenAI wrote. The company emphasized that discontinuing older models will allow them to focus on improving the most widely used versions currently available.

OpenAI states that only about 0.1% of regular users choose GPT-4o to perform tasks. Given the latest statistics of 800 million weekly active users in its 2025 enterprise report, this number is equivalent to approximately 800,000 people.

OpenAI hopes that after the transition period, the new GPT-5 models such as GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.2 will be convincing enough for users, while avoiding a repeat of the previous backlash.