OpenAI has announced that GPT-4.1, its model optimized for coding and precise instruction following, is now available to all ChatGPT paid subscribers. The company is also replacing the GPT-4o mini model with GPT-4.1 mini for both paid and free users, positioning these models as alternatives to the more resource-intensive GPT-4o for everyday coding tasks.
Key Points:
- All ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users can access GPT-4.1 starting today; Enterprise and Edu users will gain access in coming weeks
- GPT-4.1 mini replaces GPT-4o mini for all users, including as the fallback model for free users who hit GPT-4o usage limits
- Both new models match GPT-4o's safety performance while offering better coding and instruction-following capabilities
The rollout marks another step in OpenAI's increasingly rapid model release cadence. While GPT-4.1 was already available through the API, its integration into the consumer-facing ChatGPT platform significantly expands access to its specialized capabilities.
In addition to GPT-4.1, OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.1 mini, which replaces the previous GPT-4o mini model. GPT-4.1 mini is now available to all users, including those on the free tier, serving as the fallback model once GPT-4o usage limits are reached. This smaller model maintains strong performance in coding tasks and instruction adherence, offering a fast and efficient option for everyday use.
The GPT-4.1 models boast significant improvements over their predecessors. They support a larger context window of up to 1 million tokens, enhancing their ability to handle complex tasks and long-form content. OpenAI reports that GPT-4.1 outperforms GPT-4o and GPT-4.5 in coding benchmarks, providing developers with a more reliable and capable assistant for software development tasks.
According to Johannes Heidecke, OpenAI's Head of Safety Systems, the new models don't introduce any novel safety concerns. "GPT-4.1 builds on the safety work and mitigations developed for GPT-4o," Heidecke noted in a thread on X about the release. "Across our standard safety evaluations, GPT-4.1 performs at parity with GPT-4o, showing that improvements can be delivered without introducing new safety risks."
1/ Safety is core to every model we build at OpenAI. As we deploy GPT-4.1 into ChatGPT, we want to share some insights from our safety work. 🧵
— Johannes Heidecke (@JoHeidecke) May 14, 2025
This safety alignment comes despite GPT-4.1's enhanced capabilities in specific domains. "While this is a notable improvement, GPT-4.1 doesn't introduce new modalities or ways of interacting with the model, and doesn't surpass o3 in intelligence," Heidecke explained.
Coinciding with the release, OpenAI has launched a Safety Evaluations Hub providing detailed information about model performance across various safety benchmarks. The company plans to update this resource alongside major model releases to increase transparency around its safety work.
For developers who have been considering a move to the API for specialized coding tasks, this update potentially removes that need, keeping them within the ChatGPT ecosystem while offering the precision advantages of GPT-4.1.