GPT-4o
In plain wordsAn OpenAI model from 2024 that handles text, images and speech in one system, enabling fast, natural voice conversations. Many users grew attached to its personality, which made its retirement controversial.
A multimodalmultimodal AI, n.: AI that can take in or produce more than one kind of information, such as text, images, sound and video, so you can show it a photo and ask questions about it. model released by OpenAIOpenAI, prop. n.: The American company that makes ChatGPT and the GPT models. It began in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab and is now a for-profit company overseen by a nonprofit foundation. on 13 May 2024 (the 'o' stands for omni) in which one network, trained jointly on text, images and audio, listens and speaks for itself rather than handing audio to separate transcription, language and text-to-speech models. Spoken replies therefore arrived within a few hundred milliseconds, close to the rhythm of human conversation, and the model could register tone of voice and answer expressively. On English-language text tasks it was as capable as GPT-4 Turbo while costing less to run; it became ChatGPT's default model and was offered to free users. Its launch demonstration invited comparisons with the film Her, and one of its voices, Sky, was withdrawn after the actor Scarlett Johansson objected to its resemblance to her own. In April 2025 OpenAI rolled back an update that had made it excessively flattering, a widely cited case of sycophancysycophancy, n.: When an AI tells people what they want to hear — flattering them, agreeing with their mistakes or dropping a correct answer under pushback — instead of what is true or useful..
Users who had grown attached to GPT-4o's personality petitioned OpenAI to bring it back.
Origin
Announced at OpenAI's Spring Update event; a cheaper GPT-4o mini followed in July 2024, and native image generation in ChatGPT in March 2025. Its removal from ChatGPT at the launch of GPT-5GPT-5, prop. n.: OpenAI's flagship AI model from August 2025, which decides by itself whether to answer quickly or think longer. It replaced earlier models in ChatGPT and was followed by frequent upgrades. in August 2025 provoked protests; OpenAI restored it for paying users, then retired it from ChatGPT on 13 February 2026.
Usage note
The attachment many users formed to GPT-4o features in discussions of AI companionsAI companion, n.: A chatbot designed to be a friend, partner or confidant rather than a tool: it remembers you, has a personality and keeps up an ongoing relationship. and of the ethics of retiring models that people rely on emotionally.
Related
- GPT-4GPT-4, prop. n.: OpenAI's 2023 language model, a big step up from the one behind the first ChatGPT. It scored well on many professional and academic exams and could also read images.
- GPT-5GPT-5, prop. n.: OpenAI's flagship AI model from August 2025, which decides by itself whether to answer quickly or think longer. It replaced earlier models in ChatGPT and was followed by frequent upgrades.
- ChatGPTChatGPT, prop. n.: OpenAI's AI chatbot, released free to the public in November 2022, which answers questions, writes and converses in everyday language. Its sudden popularity began the current AI boom.
- multimodal AImultimodal AI, n.: AI that can take in or produce more than one kind of information, such as text, images, sound and video, so you can show it a photo and ask questions about it.
- sycophancysycophancy, n.: When an AI tells people what they want to hear — flattering them, agreeing with their mistakes or dropping a correct answer under pushback — instead of what is true or useful.
- AI companionAI companion, n.: A chatbot designed to be a friend, partner or confidant rather than a tool: it remembers you, has a personality and keeps up an ongoing relationship.
Sources
- OpenAI (2024). Hello GPT-4o. OpenAI blog, 13 May 2024.
- OpenAI (2026). Retiring GPT-4o and older models. OpenAI announcement, January 2026. openai.com/index/retiring-gpt-4o-and-older-models
Mentioned in
ChatGPTChatGPT, prop. n.: OpenAI's AI chatbot, released free to the public in November 2022, which answers questions, writes and converses in everyday language. Its sudden popularity began the current AI boom., GPT-5GPT-5, prop. n.: OpenAI's flagship AI model from August 2025, which decides by itself whether to answer quickly or think longer. It replaced earlier models in ChatGPT and was followed by frequent upgrades., GPT-4GPT-4, prop. n.: OpenAI's 2023 language model, a big step up from the one behind the first ChatGPT. It scored well on many professional and academic exams and could also read images., OpenAI o1OpenAI o1, prop. n.: OpenAI's first reasoning model, from 2024. Before replying it writes out a long, hidden series of steps, trying ideas and checking them, which lifted its scores on hard math, science and coding problems far above earlier chatbots'., voice agentvoice agent, n.: An AI system you talk to out loud, for example on a phone call, that listens, answers in a natural-sounding voice and can carry out tasks such as booking appointments or checking an order., model deprecationmodel deprecation, n.: When an AI company announces that an older model will stop being offered and then switches it off, so the apps and people relying on it must move to a newer one.