In a bid to improve ChatGPT's user experience, OpenAI is bringing GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini AI models to the platform (via TechCrunch). In case you missed it, the AI firm already launched these models to developers in April via its API.
OpenAI claims the models will enhance ChatGPT's web development and coding capabilities, indicating that GPT-4.1 excels at following specific instructions.
By popular request, GPT-4.1 will be available directly in ChatGPT starting today.GPT-4.1 is a specialized 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.May 14, 2025
It's worth noting that the new models will be exclusively available for paid users, including ChatGPT Plus, Pro, & Team users. Additionally, the update is expected to roll out for Enterprise and Edu users in the coming weeks.
Recently, OpenAI was placed under fire for shipping GPT-4.1 without allocating enough time for safety processes. However, the company dismissed the claims, indicating that GPT-4.1 isn't a frontier model despite the significant bump in speed and performance compared to GPT-4o.
According to OpenAI’s Head of Safety Systems, Johannes Heidecke:
3/ 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. This means that the safety considerations here, while substantial, are different from frontier models.May 14, 2025
Right now, paid users have a plethora of flagship models to choose from depending on their needs, including GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and reasoning models such as o3, o4-mini, and o4-mini-high. This seemingly makes the user experience confusing and frustrating.
Am I crazy or GPT-4.1 is the best model for coding? I keep coming back to it on Cursor. I’ve tried the latest gemini-2.5-pro-05-06 and it’s making all these unwanted changes while GPT-4.1 follows the instructions every single time.May 7, 2025
Elsewhere, OpenAI is reportedly in talks to acquire Windsurf, Cursor AI's competitor, for $3 billion, which could be its largest acquisition. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff claimed that the rift between Microsoft and OpenAI is getting bigger, highlighting the software giant's inability to meet the ChatGPT maker's developer expectations with Microsoft Copilot and GitHub.
As generative AI advances and becomes more capable, job security is becoming a major concern among most professionals.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted that AI will replace humans for most things, but said coders might be safe from the revolution as the field is too complex to be fully automated by AI.
However, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang claimed coding might already be dead in the water with the prevalence of AI. Instead, he recommended farming, manufacturing, and biology as plausible alternative career paths for the next generation.
