OpenAIs Journey: A Timeline of Key Updates and Developments

AI-powered chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership with Apple for its generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, the release of GPT-4o with voice capabilities, and the highly-anticipated launch of its text-to-video model Sora.

OpenAI also faced its share of internal drama, including the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati. OpenAI has also been hit with lawsuits from Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers alleging copyright infringement, as well as an injunction from Elon Musk to halt OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit. In 2025, OpenAI is battling the perception that it’s ceding ground in the AI race to Chinese rivals like DeepSeek. The company has been trying to shore up its relationship with Washington as it simultaneously pursues an ambitious data center project, and as it reportedly lays the groundwork for one of the largest funding rounds in history. Below, you’ll find a timeline of ChatGPT product updates and releases, starting with the latest, which we’ve been updating throughout the year. If you have any other questions, check out our here. To see a list of 2024 updates, go .

Timeline of the most recent ChatGPT updates

June 2025

OpenAI uses Google’s AI chips to power its products

OpenAI has started using Google’s AI chips to power and other products, as reported by Reuters. The maker is one of the biggest buyers of ’s GPUs, using the AI chips to train models, and this is the first time that OpenAI is using non-Nvidia chips in an important way.

A new MIT study suggests that might be harming critical thinking skills

Researchers from MIT’s Media Lab monitored the brain activity of writers in 32 regions. They found that users showed minimal brain engagement and consistently fell short in neural, linguistic, and behavioral aspects. To conduct the test, the lab split 54 participants from the Boston area into three groups, each consisting of individuals ages 18 to 39. The participants were asked to write multiple SAT essays using tools such as ’s , the Google search engine, or without any tools.

was downloaded 30 million times last month

The app for iOS was downloaded 29.6 million times in the last 28 days, while TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X were downloaded a total of 32.9 million times during the same period, representing a difference of about 10.6%, according to ZDNET report citing Similarweb’s X post.

The energy needed for an average query can power a lightbulb for a couple of minutes

Sam Altman said that the average query uses about one-fifteenth of a teaspoon of water, equivalent to 0.000083 gallons of water, or the energy required to power a lightbulb for a few minutes, per Business Insider. In addition to that, the chatbot requires 0.34 watt-hours of electricity to operate.

OpenAI has launched o3-pro, an upgraded version of its o3 AI reasoning model

OpenAI has unveiled o3-pro, an enhanced version of its o3, a reasoning model that the maker launched earlier this year. O3-pro is available for and Team users and in the API, while Enterprise and Edu users will get access in the third week of June.

’s conversational voice mode has been upgraded

upgraded ’s conversational voice mood for all paid users across different markets and platforms. The startup has launched an update to Advanced Voice that enables users to converse with out loud in a more natural and fluid sound. The feature also helps users translate languages more easily, the comapny said.

has added new features like meeting recording and connectors for Google Drive, Box, and more

’s now offers new funtions for business users, including integrations with various cloud services, meeting recordings, and MCP connection support for connecting to tools for in-depth research. The feature enables to retrieve information across users’ own services to answer their questions. For instance, an analyst could use the company’s slide deck and documents to develop an investment thesis.

May 2025

OpenAI CFO says hardware will drive ’s growth

OpenAI plans to purchase Jony Ive’s devices startup io for $6.4 billion. Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, thinks that the hardware will significantly enhance and broaden OpenAI’s reach to a larger audience in the future.

OpenAI’s unveils its AI coding agent, Codex

OpenAI has introduced its AI coding agent, Codex, powered by codex-1, a version of its o3 AI reasoning model designed for software engineering tasks. OpenAI says codex-1 generates more precise and “cleaner” code than o3. The coding agent may take anywhere from one to 30 minutes to complete tasks such as writing simple features, fixing bugs, answering questions about your codebase, and running tests.

Sam Altman aims to make more personalized by tracking every aspect of a person’s life

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said during a recent AI event hosted by VC firm Sequoia that he wants to record and remember every detail of a person’s life when one attendee asked about how can become more personalized.

OpenAI releases its GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini AI models in

OpenAI said in a post on X that it has launched its GPT-4.1 and GPT4.1 mini AI models in ChagGPT.

deep research now connects with GitHub (in beta) to answer code-related questions

OpenAI has launched a new feature for deep research to analyze code repositories on GitHub. The deep research feature is in beta and lets developers connect with GitHub to ask questions about codebases and engineering documents. The connector will soon be available for Plus, Pro, and Team users, with support for Enterprise and Education coming shortly, per an OpenAI spokesperson.

OpenAI launches a new data residency program in Asia

After introducing a data residency program in Europe in February, OpenAI has now launched a similar program in Asian countries including India, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. The new program will be accessible to users of Enterprise, Edu, and API. It will help organizations in Asia meet their local data sovereignty requirements when using OpenAI’s products.

OpenAI to introduce a program to grow AI infrastructure

OpenAI is unveiling a program called OpenAI for Countries, which aims to develop the necessary local infrastructure to serve international AI clients better. The AI startup will work with governments to assist with increasing data center capacity and customizing OpenAI’s products to meet specific language and local needs. OpenAI for Countries is part of efforts to support the company’s expansion of its AI data center Project Stargate to new locations outside the U.S., per Bloomberg.

OpenAI promises to make changes to prevent future sycophancy

OpenAI has announced its plan to make changes to its procedures for updating the AI models that power , following an update that caused the platform to become overly sycophantic for many users.

April 2025

OpenAI clarifies the reason became overly flattering and agreeable

OpenAI has released a post on the recent sycophancy issues with the default AI model powering , GPT-4o, leading the company to revert an update to the model released last week. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue on Sunday and confirmed two days later that the GPT-4o update was being rolled back. OpenAI is working on “additional fixes” to the model’s personality. Over the weekend, users on social media criticized the new model for making too validating and agreeable. It became a popular meme fast.

OpenAI is working to fix a “bug” that let minors engage in inappropriate conversations

An issue within ’s enabled the chatbot to create graphic erotic content for accounts registered by users under the age of 18, as demonstrated by TechCrunch’s testing, a fact later confirmed by OpenAI. “Protecting younger users is a top priority, and our Model Spec, which guides model behavior, clearly restricts sensitive content like erotica to narrow contexts such as scientific, historical, or news reporting,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “In this case, a bug allowed responses outside those guidelines, and we are actively deploying a fix to limit these generations.”

helps users by giving recommendations, showing images, and reviewing products for online shopping

OpenAI has added a few features to its search, its web search tool in , to give users an improved online shopping experience. The company says people can ask super-specific questions using natural language and receive customized results. The chatbot provides recommendations, images, and reviews of products in various categories such as fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics.

OpenAI wants its AI model to access cloud models for assistance

OpenAI leaders have been talking about allowing the open model to link up with OpenAI’s cloud-hosted models to improve its ability to respond to intricate questions, two sources familiar with the situation told TechCrunch.

OpenAI aims to make its new “open” AI model the best on the market

OpenAI is preparing to launch an AI system that will be openly accessible, allowing users to download it for free without any API restrictions. Aidan Clark, OpenAI’s VP of research, is spearheading the development of the open model, which is in the very early stages, sources familiar with the situation told TechCrunch.

OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 may be less aligned than earlier models

OpenAI released a new AI model called GPT-4.1 in mid-April. However, multiple independent tests indicate that the model is less reliable than previous OpenAI releases. The company skipped that step — sending safety cards for GPT-4.1 — claiming in a statement to TechCrunch that “GPT-4.1 is not a frontier model, so there won’t be a separate system card released for it.”

OpenAI’s o3 AI model scored lower than expected on a benchmark

Questions have been raised regarding OpenAI’s transparency and procedures for testing models after a difference in benchmark outcomes was detected by first- and third-party benchmark results for the o3 AI model. OpenAI introduced o3 in December, stating that the model could solve approximately 25% of questions on FrontierMath, a difficult math problem set. Epoch AI, the research institute behind FrontierMath, discovered that o3 achieved a score of approximately 10%, which was significantly lower than OpenAI’s top-reported score.

OpenAI unveils Flex processing for cheaper, slower AI tasks

OpenAI has launched a new API feature called Flex processing that allows users to use AI models at a lower cost but with slower response times and occasional resource unavailability. Flex processing is available in beta on the o3 and o4-mini reasoning models for non-production tasks like model evaluations, data enrichment, and asynchronous workloads.

OpenAI’s latest AI models now have a safeguard against biorisks

OpenAI has rolled out a new system to monitor its AI reasoning models, o3 and o4 mini, for biological and chemical threats. The system is designed to prevent models from giving advice that could potentially lead to harmful attacks, as stated in OpenAI’s safety report.

OpenAI launches its latest reasoning models, o3 and o4-mini

OpenAI has released two new reasoning models, o3 and o4 mini, just two days after launching GPT-4.1. The company claims o3 is the most advanced reasoning model it has developed, while o4-mini is said to provide a balance of price, speed, and performance. The new models stand out from previous reasoning models because they can use features like web browsing, coding, and image processing and generation. But they hallucinate more than several of OpenAI’s previous models.

OpenAI has added a new section to to offer easier access to AI-generated images for all user tiers

Open AI introduced a new section called “library” to make it easier for users to create images on mobile and web platforms, per the company’s X post.

OpenAI could “adjust” its safeguards if rivals release “high-risk” AI

OpenAI said on Tuesday that it might revise its safety standards if “another frontier AI developer releases a high-risk system without comparable safeguards.” The move shows how commercial AI developers face more pressure to rapidly implement models due to the increased competition.

OpenAI is building its own social media network

OpenAI is currently in the early stages of developing its own social media platform to compete with Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram and Threads, according to The Verge. It is unclear whether OpenAI intends to launch the social network as a standalone application or incorporate it into .

OpenAI will remove its largest AI model, GPT-4.5, from the API, in July

OpenAI will discontinue its largest AI model, GPT-4.5, from its API even though it was just launched in late February. GPT-4.5 will be available in a research preview for paying customers. Developers can use GPT-4.5 through OpenAI’s API until July