OpenAI has made its newly unveiled GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini AI models available directly within its popular ChatGPT platform, the company announced via a post on X (formerly Twitter) this Wednesday.
According to OpenAI spokesperson Shaokyi Amdo, the GPT-4.1 models are specifically designed to be a boon for software engineers utilizing ChatGPT for coding tasks, including writing and debugging. OpenAI touts GPT-4.1 as excelling in both coding proficiency and instruction following, surpassing the capabilities of its recent GPT-4o model in these areas, while also boasting faster reasoning speeds than the “o” series.
The company has begun the rollout of GPT-4.1 to its subscriber base, including users of ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team plans. Simultaneously, OpenAI is making GPT-4.1 mini accessible to both free and paying ChatGPT users. As part of this update, OpenAI has discontinued access to the older GPT-4.0 mini model across all user tiers, as noted in the official release notes for GPT-4.1.
While OpenAI initially launched GPT-4.1 and its mini counterpart in April, their availability was previously limited to developers through the company’s API. This earlier release drew criticism from the AI research community, who voiced concerns over the absence of a corresponding safety report. These researchers argued that OpenAI was lowering its standards regarding transparency into its AI models. However, OpenAI maintained at the time that despite the performance and speed improvements of GPT-4.1 compared to GPT-4o, it did not classify as a “frontier model” and therefore did not necessitate the same level of safety reporting as more advanced models.
Johannes Heidecke, OpenAI’s Head of Safety Systems, reiterated this point in a Wednesday post on X, stating that “GPT-4.1 doesn’t introduce new modalities or ways of interacting with the model, and doesn’t surpass o3 in intelligence.” He further explained that while safety considerations for GPT-4.1 are substantial, they differ from those associated with frontier models.
This wider release of GPT-4.1 within ChatGPT coincides with increasing attention on AI-powered coding tools. Notably, reports indicate that OpenAI is nearing the announcement of its significant $3 billion acquisition of Windsurf, a prominent AI coding tool. Earlier on the same Wednesday, Google also announced an update to its Gemini chatbot, enhancing its ability to connect with and analyze GitHub projects.
