OpenAI has sent emails to all API customers, clearly stating that the interface for chatgpt-4o-latest will be closed on February 16, 2026. At that time, GPT-4o will only remain in the ChatGPT consumer side (including free and paid tiers), and no developer-facing access channels will be provided.
- Service interruption scope: Only API is affected; the web version, mobile app, and desktop version of ChatGPT are not affected.
- Migration direction: The official recommends developers to switch to the GPT-5.1 series (such as `gpt-5.1-chat-latest`), which outperforms 4o in terms of context length, reasoning depth, and throughput, and has a lower input cost.
- Transition support: OpenAI has launched a migration guide and code examples, and opened a ticket channel to assist with bulk replacements. For enterprise-level large clients, the sales team will provide one-on-one technical consultants.
- Background reasons: Internal data shows that the API call ratio of GPT-4o continues to decline, and it is regarded as a "legacy system." Maintaining dual pricing will increase the company's operational costs.
The official reminds that existing applications need to complete model switching and regression testing before February 16, 2026. Calls after the deadline will return a 410 Gone error. For scenarios that rely on 4o's multimodal capabilities, you can temporarily use the latest stable version of GPT-5.1-Chat. Later, GPT-5.1-Audio/Vis will be released to cover audio and image inputs.
