OpenAI model announcements from April 2022 to September 2026, newest first. Compare what changed and follow the official sources.
Dates refer to the linked announcement or release milestone. Previews are labeled in the entries; historical availability and pricing may have changed.
OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Sol, an upgrade to GPT-6 Sol that it says nearly matches GPT-6 Astra on agentic coding, computer use, and professional work at one-fifth of Astra's standard token price. It is available today in ChatGPT Work and Codex and through the API as gpt-6-1-sol.
For buildersUse GPT-6.1 Sol for everyday coding and agent workloads and escalate to GPT-6 Astra only when tasks fail, since Sol costs $2 input and $10 output per million tokens versus Astra's $10 and $50.
OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol for coding and professional work, with API pricing of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Access is rolling out in ChatGPT Work and Codex; it is not yet available in Chat.
For buildersEvaluate a coding or research workflow on your own tasks, comparing quality and total cost with the model you currently use.
OpenAI released GPT-6 Luna alongside Sol as a lower-cost model, with API pricing of $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens. Free and Go users can access Luna in the desktop app.
For buildersTest a high-volume workflow such as classifying support requests or extracting structured fields from incoming documents.
OpenAI introduced an image model with sharper details, more precise editing, and faster generation.
For buildersUse repeated edits to evaluate whether a product image keeps its key details intact.
OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra, a new generation of model for demanding reasoning and computer-based work.
For buildersEvaluate a difficult multi-step task against explicit acceptance criteria before changing your default model.
OpenAI introduced a new generation of voice models for more natural spoken interaction.
For buildersTest interruptions and turn-taking as well as transcription accuracy in a voice assistant.
OpenAI introduced the GPT-5.6 family through a limited preview: Sol, balanced Terra, and lower-cost Luna.
For buildersThe family offered separate capability and cost tiers for different workflow steps.
OpenAI released GPT-5.5 for coding, research, data analysis, and work across computer tools. API availability followed on April 24.
For buildersTurn a messy brief and spreadsheet into a small internal tool, then check the calculations and behavior against the original data.
A new image model introduced stronger instruction following and generation of complex visual layouts.
For buildersTest diagrams and designs that require accurate text and consistent spatial relationships.
A specialized reasoning model for biology and drug-discovery research launched through a restricted research preview.
For buildersSpecialized models require domain-specific evaluation and an appropriate access program.
OpenAI added smaller GPT-5.4 models aimed at fast, cost-sensitive workloads.
For buildersEvaluate separate models for routine classification and more demanding coding requests.
GPT-5.4 brought reasoning, coding, and professional tool workflows together, with a Pro variant for harder tasks.
For buildersCompare the model on an end-to-end workflow spanning code, documents, and data.
A smaller coding model debuted in research preview, optimized for very low-latency inference on Cerebras hardware.
For buildersFast inference matters for interactive edits where a developer reviews each short change.
OpenAI introduced a coding model combining software-engineering ability with broader reasoning and computer-based work.
For buildersGive a coding agent a reproducible issue and verify both its fix and its tests.
GPT-5.2-Codex launched in Codex for paid ChatGPT users, with API access planned afterward.
For buildersTest a migration or refactor that requires maintaining context across a long session.
OpenAI released an image model with faster generation and more precise edits that preserve existing details.
For buildersEvaluate a series of edits for consistency, rather than judging only the first image.
The GPT-5.2 series launched for professional work, including documents, spreadsheets, coding, and longer tool workflows.
For buildersTest complete deliverables, such as an editable report and its calculations, rather than isolated answers.
OpenAI introduced a coding model designed for longer engineering tasks and more efficient reasoning.
For buildersCompare sustained debugging across several iterations.
The GPT-5.1 update introduced more conversational responses and more adaptive use of reasoning time.
For buildersA task router can reserve longer thinking for the inputs that benefit from it.
Sora 2 introduced video with synchronized dialogue and sound effects. The Sora product was later discontinued in April 2026.
For buildersA historical example of integrating video and audio generation into one model.
OpenAI released a GPT-5 model specialized for agentic software development.
For buildersEvaluate a complete repository change with implementation and test execution.
GPT-5 introduced a system combining fast responses and deeper reasoning, with improvements across coding and multimodal tasks.
For buildersEvaluate both quick responses and longer reasoning on the same realistic set of app tasks.
OpenAI released two open-weight reasoning models under the Apache 2.0 license.
For buildersOpen weights enable local deployment and customization when the hardware and license fit your project.
The new reasoning models combined extended thinking with tool use and visual analysis.
For buildersA reasoning workflow can inspect an image, run calculations, and gather evidence before returning an answer.
Three API models launched with improved coding and instruction following, and context windows up to one million tokens.
For buildersDifferent model sizes let an app route simple extraction and complex code work to different cost tiers.
OpenAI introduced native image generation with improved prompt following, text rendering, and image-based editing.
For buildersCreate a visual from a brief, then refine it using the previous output as context.
OpenAI released GPT-4o Transcribe, GPT-4o mini Transcribe, and GPT-4o mini TTS for speech recognition and generation.
For buildersCombine transcription and speech generation to prototype a voice-based support assistant.
OpenAI released a research preview emphasizing conversational quality, broad knowledge, and instruction following.
For buildersThis release illustrates that conversational quality and explicit reasoning are different model strengths.
A small reasoning model arrived with a focus on science, mathematics, and coding.
For buildersReasoning effort can be adjusted to match the difficulty of a technical task.
A faster version of Sora became available for video generation after the earlier research preview.
For buildersThis historical release marks the move from a research demonstration to a usable video model.
The full o1 model arrived in ChatGPT alongside a higher-compute o1 pro mode.
For buildersCompare reasoning depth against latency when designing a multi-step assistant.
OpenAI released a smaller reasoning model focused on tasks such as coding and mathematics.
For buildersA lower-cost reasoning tier offered another option for technical tasks.
An early reasoning model became available in ChatGPT and to eligible API users, using more computation before answering.
For buildersReasoning models introduced a new tradeoff between response speed and work on difficult problems.
A smaller, lower-cost model launched with text and vision support.
For buildersSmall models can make classification, extraction, and repeated background tasks more economical.
OpenAI introduced its omni model for text, vision, and audio. Text and image inputs launched first; other modalities followed.
For buildersA useful reference point for the shift toward assistants that understand screenshots and spoken input.
GPT-4 Turbo launched in preview with a 128K context window and lower API prices.
For buildersLonger context made it possible to supply much larger documents in a single request.
Following its research preview, DALL-E 3 became available to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users, with better handling of detailed prompts and text.
For buildersUse conversational revisions to refine an image concept over several steps.
OpenAI introduced GPT-4, with improved reasoning and a multimodal architecture accepting text and images.
For buildersUse this release to trace the move from text assistants toward visual reasoning.
The GPT-3.5-based conversational model debuted as a free research preview in ChatGPT.
For buildersA milestone in using natural-language instructions to draft, explain, and debug software.
OpenAI released open-source speech-recognition models for multilingual transcription and translation into English.
For buildersTurn recorded interviews or lessons into searchable transcripts.
OpenAI began a limited research preview of its second-generation text-to-image model.
For buildersA historical milestone for generating and editing images with natural-language prompts.