OpenAI rolls out GPT-4.1 model to ChatGPT users

OpenAIhas begun rolling out its latest AI models, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini, to users of ChatGPT. 

The company says GPT-4.1 offers improvements in coding and instruction-following tasks, making it particularly useful for software developers. 

“By popular request, GPT-4.1 will be available directly in ChatGPT starting today. GPT-4.1 is a specialised model that excels at coding tasks & instruction following. Because it’s faster, it’s a great alternative to OpenAI o3 & o4-mini for everyday coding needs,” said the company. 

The AI model will be made available to Plus, Pro, and Team subscribers, while GPT-4.1 mini will be accessible to both free and paid users. The update also removes the earlier GPT-4.0 mini model from the platform.

While GPT 4.1  was initially launched in April through OpenAI’s developer API, it drew criticism for being released without a safety report. 

Addressing these concerns, OpenAI’s Head of Safety Systems Johannes Heidecke, in a post on X on Wednesday, clarified that the latest model does not introduce new capabilities or outperform o3, its reasoning model, in intelligence. 

“GPT-4.1 doesn’t introduce new modalities or ways of interacting with the model, and doesn’t surpass o3 in intelligence. This means that the safety considerations here, while substantial, are different from frontier models,” read the post. 

This development comes at a time when major tech companies are doubling down on AI developer tools.

OpenAI is in talks to acquire AI coding startup Windsurf in a $3-billion deal. Windsurf had recently been in talks with investors, including General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins, to raise fresh capital at the same $3-billion valuation. 

Meanwhile, multiple media reports indicate tech giants, including Google and Amazon, are also bullish on building agentic AI solutions for software development.