OpenAI upgrades GPT-5.5, as it plans to retire legacy ChatGPT models

OpenAI says it’s rolling out a new update that improves the existing GPT-5.5 Instant model and retires multiple legacy models, including o3.

GPT-5.5 Instant was released on April 23, and it has made significant progress over the past few weeks, particularly in May 2026.

Now, in an updated document, OpenAI quietly confirmed that it has improved the quality of GPT-5.5, which means it’ll now respond more accurately and use a better style for its answers.

OpenAI is also reducing long and bullet-heavy responses in an attempt to make GPT sound more human.

These changes mean GPT responses will now be easier to read and more natural in everyday conversation.

OpenAI says GPT-5.5 will be better paced in practical help tasks after this week’s update.

OpenAI retires legacy models

While OpenAI is rolling out some nice upgrades, it’s also sunsetting older legacy models to better serve its newer and most capable models.

On August 26, o3 will be retired from ChatGPT, but you’ll be given a 90-day sunset period. GPT-4.5 will be retired from ChatGPT on June 27 following a 30-day sunset period.

ChatGPT currently offers these models to paid users only, and while not many will miss o3, quite a lot of users are going to miss GPT-4.5.

GPT 4.5 was closer to GPT-4o, which is why it felt more personal and was also controversial for that reason.

Other improvements are rolling out to GPT

In addition to upgrading models and retiring legacy ones to free up compute, OpenAI is integrating a job search tool into ChatGPT. While AI has always been helpful with drafting resumes, it wasn’t doing a great job of finding new opportunities for you.

This changes with ChatGPT’s new job search integration, which allows you to find relevant live roles and tailor a resume for a specific opportunity.

“When you search for jobs, ChatGPT can surface live listings and freelance opportunities from sources like Indeed, Upwork, Appcast, and across the web,” OpenAI noted in the release notes.

“Results are personalized using your experience, skills, and goals to highlight roles that may be a strong fit. You can follow links to apply directly on the source sites.”

OpenAI has also improved ChatGPT’s ability to create resumes, edit existing resumes, and export them in a professional format.

These changes are gradually rolling out across the world.