It's April 15th. 'nuff said.
In the news: While admitting that they "suck at naming their models," OpenAI has launched GPT-4.1, along with GPT-4.1 Mini and GPT-4.1 Nano. These models are for developers and will not show up in your ChatGPT model picker. All three models are available now via API. According to OpenAI, the new models outperform GPT-4o in coding, instruction following, and long-context comprehension.
All three models support up to 1 million tokens — a sharp increase from GPT-4o’s 128,000-token limit — and include knowledge updates through June 2024. OpenAI reports GPT-4.1 scored 21 per cent higher than GPT-4o and 27 per cent higher than GPT-4.5 on coding benchmarks.
GPT-4.1 is 40 per cent faster than GPT-4o, with input costs reduced by 80 per cent . The model is 26 per cent cheaper than GPT-4o and will replace GPT-4, which is being removed from ChatGPT on April 30. Access to GPT-4.5 via API will end in July.
The models deliver improved accuracy across long prompts and better code generation. Developers can analyze eight times more code at once, improving debugging and software prototyping. “Benchmarks are strong, but we focused on real-world utility, and developers seem very happy,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Varun Mohan, CEO of Windsurf, joined the OpenAI livestream with an offer of free access to GPT-4.1 for seven days, starting yesterday. (I have no financial relationship with Windsurf, but as they say: "Free is very pro consumer.") I spent a few hours with 4.1 using Windsurf last night – vibe-coding is absolutely the new-new thing.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
P.S. If you're heading to POSSIBLE (April 30 | Miami), please join us for the Shelly Palmer Innovation Series VIP Breakfast presented by 3C featuring Mark Cuban, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Kassan, and me. Register here.
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
