OpenAI o4-mini

Not to be confused with GPT-4o mini.

OpenAI o4-mini is a generative pre-trained transformer model created by OpenAI. On April 16, 2025, the o4-mini model was released to all ChatGPT users (including free-tier users) as well as via the Chat Completions API and Responses API.^[1][2][3][4]

o4-mini
Developer	OpenAI
Initial release	April 16, 2025 (2025-04-16)
Predecessor	OpenAI o3-mini
Successor	GPT-5 mini
Type	Generative pre-trained transformer Reasoning large language model

Additionally, OpenAI introduced the o4-mini-high model, which was made available exclusively to paid-tier ChatGPT users. The high model was a slower model which had a higher reasoning effort to produce more accurate responses.^[5]

Unlike earlier models, o4-mini is capable of processing both text and images. It also allows to perform tasks like analyzing whiteboard sketches during its "chain-of-thought" phase.^[6]

o4-mini API providers says that it's designed to enhance decision-making across sectors by enabling utilities to forecast demand and analyze infrastructure data, supporting healthcare through extraction and interpretation of medical records and diagnostics, and assisting financial institutions with real-time regulatory compliance and risk assessment through automated document analysis and data processing.^[7] A study indicates that the o4-mini model shows substantial improvement in chemistry-related tasks compared to earlier non-reasoning models (including the GPT-3 era models), but it still lags behind more advanced reasoning-focused models such as the DeepSeek-R1 model.^[8]

See also

• List of large language models