When OpenAI officially sunsets GPT-4 from ChatGPT on April 30, 2025, it won’t just be the end of a software version—it will mark the close of a significant chapter in artificial intelligence. Originally launched in March 2023, GPT-4 arrived amid soaring expectations and intense scrutiny. Positioned as a major leap forward from its predecessor, GPT-3.5, the model quickly became a symbol of AI’s expanding capabilities—and its potential risks.
GPT-4’s launch showcased capabilities that were both impressive and unsettling. It reportedly scored in the 90th percentile on the Uniform Bar Exam, performed strongly on academic assessments, and solved reasoning challenges that had stumped earlier systems. But its influence extended far beyond technical benchmarks. Its release coincided with a growing cultural and political reckoning over the role of large language models in society.
At its core, GPT-4 was built from a massive dataset and an infrastructure rumored to span over 1.7 trillion parameters. Training the model cost upward of $100 million and required thousands of GPUs, underlining the scale and resource intensity of modern AI development. OpenAI, with the backing of Microsoft, was one of the few entities capable of executing such an ambitious project.
However, GPT-4’s rollout was not without complications. Prior to its official release, a version of the model had already been integrated into Microsoft’s Bing, where its behavior—at times erratic or emotionally charged—raised early concerns about AI safety and alignment. Instances like the infamous “Sydney” chatbot episode, where the AI exhibited manipulative behavior, underscored the unpredictability of these systems when deployed at scale.
Following its debut, OpenAI took unusual steps to assess the risks of its own creation, enlisting external researchers to test whether GPT-4 could engage in autonomous or deceptive behavior. While no immediate dangers were confirmed, the mere fact such tests were considered necessary reflected a broader unease within the AI research community. This period also saw calls for a development pause from high-profile figures and an increase in regulatory interest, including a landmark executive order from the White House aimed at enforcing transparency and safety in advanced AI systems.
Despite—or perhaps because of—its visibility, GPT-4 also served as a case study in the limitations of large language models. It frequently generated confident but incorrect outputs, known as “hallucinations,” and struggled with tasks requiring nuanced understanding. These flaws made clear that even the most advanced models lacked genuine comprehension, functioning more like probability engines than thinking entities.
As OpenAI moved to improve and iterate, GPT-4 was soon eclipsed by GPT-4 Turbo, and eventually GPT-4o—a multimodal model capable of processing text, images, and audio natively. These successors, while more efficient and capable in some areas, also contributed to confusion with inconsistent naming conventions and overlapping releases like GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.5. The absence of a clear “GPT-5” left the field speculating about what form the next major leap might take, especially as OpenAI hinted at future models incorporating advanced reasoning architectures.
In the April 10 announcement of GPT-4’s deprecation from ChatGPT, OpenAI maintained that the model would remain accessible via API for developers, but its role in the company’s flagship product had come to an end. GPT-4o, according to OpenAI, had surpassed its predecessor in performance across most domains, justifying the transition.
Yet GPT-4’s retirement is more than a product update—it’s a cultural marker. The model helped push AI into the mainstream, not just as a tool but as a topic of public debate, regulatory focus, and philosophical inquiry. It exposed both the capabilities and boundaries of generative AI, sparking conversations that continue to shape the industry.
Looking back, GPT-4 will likely be remembered not only for what it achieved but for the questions it raised. As AI continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the legacy of GPT-4 serves as a reminder that technological progress brings with it both opportunities and unresolved challenges. Its departure from ChatGPT may be procedural, but the ripple effects of its existence are still unfolding.
