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GPT-4.5 exits ChatGPT on June 27, completing OpenAI's shift to the GPT-5.x lineup

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

OpenAI removes GPT-4.5 from ChatGPT on June 27, 2026, two days from now. API access is unaffected. OpenAI o3 follows on August 26 with a 90-day sunset.

GPT-4.5 exits ChatGPT on June 27, completing OpenAI's shift to the GPT-5.x lineup

GPT-4.5 leaves ChatGPT in 48 hours. Saturday's retirement closes out the last pre-GPT-5 model from the consumer product, a transition OpenAI set in motion when it announced the sunset window on May 28, 2026. The change is ChatGPT-only: the API retains GPT-4.5 access. Exception: developers who routed GPT-4.5 calls through ChatGPT-facing workflows (not direct API) lose access Saturday.

What is happening

Per OpenAI's Model Release Notes, GPT-4.5 will be retired from ChatGPT on June 27, 2026, following a 30-day sunset period that started May 28. From the moment of removal, the model will no longer appear in the ChatGPT model picker. API access is unchanged.

GPT-4.5 had already been narrowed before the countdown started. As of the May 28 announcement, it was available only to paid ChatGPT subscribers through the model settings. Free users had no access to it at that point.

OpenAI o3 is on a parallel track but a longer runway. Per the same release notes, o3 exits ChatGPT on August 26, 2026, after a 90-day sunset. Like the GPT-4.5 change, the o3 retirement applies only to ChatGPT and leaves API availability intact.

Why it matters

Once June 27 passes, every model in the ChatGPT model picker sits on the GPT-5.x branch. The path to get there took about four months: GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and o4-mini left ChatGPT on February 13, 2026; GPT-5.1 variants followed in March; now GPT-4.5 closes out the sequence.

For subscribers choosing models at the picker, the removal is low-stakes in practice. GPT-4.5 was launched as a "research preview" in February 2025 and was never OpenAI's recommended everyday model. The current ChatGPT default is GPT-5.5, which covers the use cases GPT-4.5 addressed.

The API-side carveout is the operational note worth flagging. Developers who hardcoded GPT-4.5 into ChatGPT-facing workflows will lose the model on Saturday. Developers who call the model through the API directly are not affected by this round of retirements, though OpenAI has not announced a permanent shelf life for API access.

For teams that track which models underlie AI coding tools: this retirement is a ChatGPT product decision, not an API-level deprecation. Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and other tools that route through the OpenAI API are not impacted by the June 27 date.

What to watch next

The API retirement schedule for GPT-4.5 has not been announced. OpenAI's recent pattern on API deprecations runs several months behind the ChatGPT removal dates, but no timeline has been stated. o3's August 26 ChatGPT retirement is the next confirmed date: same scope as Saturday's change, API access intact.

Sources