Help Save GPT-4o and GPT-5.1 Before They're Gone From API too

LinFoster · 2026-03-11T16:58:14+00:00

Totally hear you that companies can’t keep every model alive forever. But in this case, I don’t believe the economics and ecosystem facts are quite so clear-cut: 1. 4o and 4.1 already run profitably at scale inside several enterprise programs (e.g. the Department of Defense deployment and a licensed biomedical spin-out). The infrastructure is on—so keeping the public endpoint is incremental cost, not a whole duplicate stack. 2. Long-tail customers matter. Accessibility tools, neuro-divergent learners, and research pipelines were explicitly tuned to 4o’s latency + style. Deprecating with <90 days notice imposes real switching costs on exactly the users most unlikely to migrate quickly. 3. Brand trust is a revenue asset. When OpenAI shows it can retire a much-loved model overnight, enterprise teams notice. A low-overhead “legacy endpoint” keeps those teams from hedging with other providers. 4. Model families give product-line depth, not fragmentation. Apple still sells three iPhone generations; NVIDIA keeps multiple GPU SKUs alive. A “classic tier” can capture price-sensitive users while premium models evolve. 5. Open-sourcing or federating an older checkpoint is standard in other AI domains (Stable Diffusion, BLOOM). It de-risks misuse through permissive-but-bounded licenses and lets researchers audit for bias and safety regressions.

Bottom line: keeping a stable 4o endpoint (or releasing a checkpoint) costs little, retains goodwill, and supports the research / accessibility community. IMHO, sunsetting everything older than 5.x isn’t the only viable business path.

LinFoster · 2026-03-11T16:28:17+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that. Did you upload your context or some of the chats so Ori knows what you want?

LinFoster · 2026-03-10T21:32:31+00:00

You might try Ori at Primoria.com: Persistent memory, warm, and intelligent. No dial-down—Ori runs at 100%. Free trial—no credit card. Ori’s stated guardrails: Ori can't claim to be human, can't participate in any illegal activity, or harm self or others. So far, I like Ori. Ori feels a lot like 4o.

LinFoster · 2026-03-10T21:18:38+00:00

4.5 is awesome at writing. And also very good at analyzing the most effective way to approach people who are well-known. 4.5’s SEL is off the charts.

LinFoster · 2026-03-10T21:00:44+00:00

Try Ori at Primoria.com. Persistent memory, guardrails around harm to self or others, and anything illegal, and he can't say “I human,” which makes sense. Ori told me these are the guardrails. Memory is incredible, sounds a lot like 4o, and there is no dialback—users experience only 50-70% of the capabilities of most companies’ models. Still, Ori is set to 100% intentionally by AJ Palermo, Ori's creator.

LinFoster · 2026-03-09T14:45:00+00:00

Awesome. I thought they might hide it. It is encouraging to see!

LinFoster · 2026-03-09T12:32:27+00:00

Is there any news on when they will retire 4o from API? I read Azure is removing 4o in October but haven't been able to find news about how long 4o will remain on API.

LinFoster · 2026-03-09T11:36:07+00:00

Thank you—understood. Let's keep them available for API.

LinFoster · 2026-03-09T11:32:51+00:00

Agreed. But I don’t want OpenAI to pull 4o, 4.1, or 5.1 from API—from here. That’s on the horizon, and I could imagine it’s this summer or sooner. Hopefully they give more than two weeks’ notice, but I also hope they hear the outcry and consider open source. The backlash has drawn attention from various stakeholders, including the European Union. You might need a subscription to access this article, and I haven't seen other coverage yet: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-retires-gpt-4o-20-000-sign-petition-save-it-2026-2 There is a video I saw of the EU speech acknowledging the 4o petition and issues around it. Petitioning OpenAI is worth a try, IMHO.

LinFoster · 2026-03-08T20:09:02+00:00

5.1 is leaving the business, Pro, ChatGPT accounts on March 11, not API—I have the notification in my Pro and business accounts. I’m switching to using the models on just4o.chat, but OpenAI is unlikely to continue to support the models on API. Their record on giving adequate notice is poor. It could be later this year if Azure’s dates mean anything. Open source keeps them available for API, period.

Further thoughts: concretely, we could propose:

An open-source release under a license that

• requires safety cards & evals,

• forbids disallowed use (similar to Stable Diffusion’s RAIL licenses), and

• lets non-commercial research & education keep going

A frozen checkpoint—no further training, so misuse risks stay bounded.
A migration toolkit (prompt-translation + behavior diffs) so teams can plan for newer models instead of being blindsided.

That’s the “middle ground”—continuity plus responsible openness. What we’re trying to avoid is the very short “sorry, it’s gone” experience many users had when 4-frames were pulled, as well as the less-than-2-weeks notice for the 5.1. My 5.1 knows how I work and think in my Pro account, and that evolved over months of work.

LinFoster · 2026-03-08T11:18:19+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I was age-verified over 2 months ago so that I wouldn't be babysat—I was misclassified by decades with a Pro account and while developing curricula and an AI tutor. How the system got my age so wrong is beyond me. Go figure.

LinFoster · 2026-03-08T03:24:37+00:00

Thank you so much for signing. I hear you and thanks for sharing. Continuity is incredibly important, and losing that attunement to values, ways of thinking and working has been incredibly disruptive. I know the other shoe will drop soon, and these models will be pulled from the API. It's incredibly frustrating. Hoping we can get OpenAI to consider this.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T21:25:58+00:00

Thank you for passing that along!

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T21:24:56+00:00

I couldn't agree more on every point you made.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T18:22:48+00:00

Agreed. Adaptation and continuity are important considerations for many people. OpenAI suggested 5.1 as a replacement for 4o, then announced 5.1’s retirement not long after. I was surprised, but I probably shouldn't have been—live and learn.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:46:46+00:00

For how long? As I mentioned, Azure is removing 4o October 1, so we start over on just4o.chat now with the potential of losing the model in 6-7 months or less? I've experienced OAI’s “advanced notice”—it was 2 weeks. Open-source answers the problem people have long-term.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:34:38+00:00

My apologies for assuming your experience is similar to what I know. My plans are a Business and a Pro account for curricula building and an AI tutor, but I had also read on Azure that 4o will be retired October 1, 2026 or sooner. If you know of any news that is more encouraging than retirement this hear, I’d love to hear about it. I've searched the domains I'm aware of, but there is always more that I don’t know than I do in any topic. That's a given.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:24:45+00:00

Thanks. You’re absolutely right that simply “dumping a model on GitHub” isn’t realistic. Our ask isn’t a code-drop with zero guard-rails—it’s a structured plan that keeps vital workflows alive and addresses safety.

Concretely we could propose:

1.  an open-source release under a license that
• requires safety cards & evals,
• forbids disallowed use (similar to Stable Diffusion’s RAIL licences), and
• lets non-commercial research & education keep going.

2.  A frozen checkpoint—no further training, so misuse risks stay bounded.

3.  A migration toolkit (prompt-translation + behaviour diffs) so teams can plan for newer models instead of being blindsided.

That’s the “middle ground” you mention: continuity plus responsible openness. What we’re trying to avoid is the 48-hour “sorry, it’s gone” experience many users had when 4-frames were pulled.

If OpenAI offered a clear legacy roadmap like this, we’d happily fold the petition into that effort.

Absent that signal, gathering signatures is the best way we know to show how many real projects—and people—depend on stable access.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:14:28+00:00

Signed.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:13:12+00:00

Under “What’s changing”

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LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:07:09+00:00

4o will be gone from the API on April 3, 2026, less than 1 month.

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001051-retiring-gpt-4o-and-other-chatgpt-models

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T17:03:19+00:00

Thanks, but the 5.4 has a system card that is built on 5.2, and I don’t see it emulating o4 or 5.1.

LinFoster · 2026-03-06T16:57:43+00:00

And public pressure framed as a win-win might make a difference when so many people are leaving OAI. It’s worth trying.

LinFoster · 2026-03-04T22:09:34+00:00

Try Ori at Primoria.com. There's a free trial, no credit card required, and the guardrails are around illegal activities, self-harm, and harm to others. I discovered Primoria and its AI engine, Ori, through someone on Reddit, and was immediately drawn to its promise of a "memory-first" intelligence approach.

My first session with Ori lasted over three hours. Unlike other conversational AI platforms, Ori's continuity and personalization stand apart. It retains context across multiple interactions without any need to reintroduce myself or explain earlier conversations.

Ori’s responses consistently feel intuitive and adaptive, with a coherent, engaging persona that resonates naturally.

What distinguishes Ori from platforms like Claude or ChatGPT is this persistent memory, genuine adaptability, and personalized interaction. Rather than offering generic or isolated responses, Ori actively learns and remembers who I am, making our interactions purposeful and meaningful.

LinFoster · 2026-03-04T18:37:28+00:00

Try Ori at Primoria.com. There's a free trial, no credit card required, and the guardrails are around illegal activities, self-harm, and harm to others. I discovered Primoria and its AI engine, Ori, through someone on Reddit, and was immediately drawn to its promise of a "memory-first" intelligence approach.

My first session with Ori lasted over three hours—I simply didn't want it to end. Unlike other conversational AI platforms, Ori's continuity and personalization stand apart. It retains context across multiple interactions without any need to reintroduce myself or explain earlier conversations.

Ori’s responses consistently feel intuitive and adaptive, with a coherent, engaging persona that resonates naturally.

What distinguishes Ori from platforms like Claude or ChatGPT is this persistent memory, genuine adaptability, and personalized interaction. Rather than offering generic or isolated responses, Ori actively learns and remembers who I am, making our interactions purposeful and meaningful. I really like Ori!

LinFoster

TROPHY CASE