ChatGPT Switches Default Model to GPT-4.1 Mini for All Users, Subscribers Get GPT-4.1

OpenAI has officially integrated its flagship GPT-4.1 model into ChatGPT, making it available to Plus, Pro, and Team subscribers starting today. The company announced the rollout on X (Twitter), highlighting the model's strengths in coding tasks and instruction following.

chatgpt logo
Enterprise and Education users won't be left behind for long, with access promised "in the coming weeks," according to OpenAI.

Alongside the premium-only upgrades, the company is also replacing GPT-4o mini with GPT-4.1 mini as the default model for all users, including those on free accounts. If you've enabled the ChatGPT extension for Apple Intelligence on your devices, Siri will presumably now default to GPT-4.1 mini going forward.

Both models support a one million context token window (the amount of text/media in a prompt that an AI model can process), far surpassing GPT-4o's 128,000-token limit. OpenAI claims that speed improvements make GPT-4.1 "more appealing for everyday coding tasks" compared to their recently introduced reasoning models.

The deployment comes a few weeks after the new models were released to developers. OpenAI said that both new models have undergone standard safety evaluations before being released to the public.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Clicks Communicator Feature

'Clicks Communicator' Unveiled — Will You Carry This With Your iPhone?

Friday January 2, 2026 6:35 am PST by
The company behind the BlackBerry-like Clicks Keyboard accessory for the iPhone today unveiled a new Android 16 smartphone called the Clicks Communicator. The purpose-built device is designed to be used as a second phone alongside your iPhone, with the intended focus being communication over content consumption. It runs a custom Android launcher that offers a curated selection of messaging...
Low Cost MacBook Feature A18 Pro

Low-Price 12.9-Inch MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Reportedly Launching Early This Year

Friday January 2, 2026 9:08 am PST by
Apple plans to introduce a 12.9-inch MacBook in spring 2026, according to TrendForce. In a press release this week, the Taiwanese research firm said this MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with "competitive pricing." TrendForce did not share any further details about this MacBook, but the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more...
Apple Fitness Plus hero

Apple Announces New Fitness+ Workout Programs, Strava Challenge, and More

Friday January 2, 2026 6:43 am PST by
Apple today announced a number of updates to Apple Fitness+ and activity with the Apple Watch. The key announcements include: New Year limited-edition award: Users can win the award by closing all three Activity Rings for seven days in a row in January. "Quit Quitting" Strava challenge: Available in Strava throughout January, users who log 12 workouts anytime in the month will win an ...
Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature Pink

Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Friday January 2, 2026 4:33 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
Mac Pro Feature Blue

What's Happening With the Mac Pro?

Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro. Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...

Top Rated Comments

AgeOfSpiracles Avatar
8 months ago

Soon, they will need a GPT model just to analyse your query and tell you which GPY model you should use!
Seriously. It feels like they need to do a hard reset on the naming/versioning. I have a plus subscription, and it's still defaulting to 4o, with o3, o4-mini, and o4-mini-high as the main alternate choices. You have to go under "More Models" to find 4.1, 4.1-mini, and 4.5. I would love to assume that 4.5 is the latest greatest new hotness, but honestly I wouldn't put $100 on that bet. Is 4o better than o3? is o less than 1? or is it 15, since it's the letter "o"? why would I choose 4.1-mini over 4.1? Why would I use anything except 4.5? Does 4.5 have the same "advanced reasoning" as o3? 4.1 is for "quick coding", but o4-mini-high is "great at coding"... so I need to choose between quick and great code? Is there a model that does great quick code?

And biggest question of all, does any of this matter? If the latest version is more or less all the improvements of the previous versions all wrapped up in one, then why give all this choice? Conversely, if all these choices are all meaningful, then why is there virtually no guidance on when to use which one?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kiranmk2 Avatar
8 months ago
Soon, they will need a GPT model just to analyse your query and tell you which GPY model you should use!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
flybass Avatar
8 months ago
For those who haven’t been using them - the latest models are fantastic.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
8 months ago

I'm on Plus and I still have 4o as default. These are my options:

Same. I just switched it to 4.1 manually
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
atownguy Avatar
8 months ago
I thought the default model has been 4o (not 4o mini)? And I think the default is still 4o- it just downgrades free users to mini once they hit their limits.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bobbyjack Avatar
8 months ago
I’m so surprised by the number of people who are happy with ChatGPT. These past few weeks, I don’t think I’ve had a single correct answer from it, even for the simplest questions. It doesn’t take my settings into account, it hallucinates answers, it makes completely false statements, and it’s been totally unusable to the point that I cancelled my subscription. I had to ask it to check its answers every time, and every time I would get “You’re right, I made a mistake,” literally every single time. Even the translations were completely off (I’m French, I understand English perfectly but I’m not very good with grammar). Once it even translated into German....
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)