Share
April has been an exciting month in the world of AI, with a string of major model launches from tech giants like Meta, Google, xAI, and the latest to join the fray – OpenAI. After months of teasers and leaks about their newest developments, OpenAI officially unveiled their latest AI model, GPT-4.1, on April 14, 2025. This marks the next step in OpenAI's journey to revolutionize AI capabilities, but there’s a catch – it’s currently available only for developers.
OpenAI has introduced its latest AI model, GPT-4.1, representing a major advancement in the realm of artificial intelligence. This release paves the way for innovative applications across a wide range of industries, offering new possibilities for developers and businesses alike. It not only enhances the capabilities of previous versions but also unlocks fresh opportunities for AI-driven solutions in various sectors.
The unveiling of GPT-4.1 confirms reports from last week that OpenAI was preparing to launch new models, signaling a shift in the company's release strategy. On April 4th, CEO Sam Altman announced on X that the launch of GPT-5 was delayed and is now expected to arrive “in a few months,” later than the previously anticipated May release, due to challenges faced during development, according to OpenAI's CEO.
Additionally, OpenAI plans to discontinue the preview version of GPT-4.5 on the API on July 14, 2025. This decision is based on GPT-4.1 offering equivalent or even better performance, at a lower cost and reduced latency.
OpenAI unveils GPT-4.1 along with two new compact models
In addition to the standard version, OpenAI has introduced two smaller, more affordable variants: GPT-4.1 Mini and GPT-4.1 Nano. According to OpenAI, GPT-4.1 Mini is a budget-friendly option ideal for developers looking to experiment, while GPT-4.1 Nano is described as the company’s "smallest, fastest, and most affordable" model to date.
GPT-4.1 family. Cre: OpenAI
GPT-4.1 Mini
Imagine harnessing the power of GPT-4 without the heavy cost or lag. That’s the promise of GPT-4.1 Mini—all the core strengths of GPT-4, but streamlined into a highly efficient, cost-effective package. This version maintains the model’s ability to handle complex tasks, generate human-like responses, and manage large datasets, but with reduced latency and at a fraction of the price. With a context window of 1 million tokens, it's the perfect solution for developers or businesses looking to leverage AI without breaking the bank.
Offering remarkable performance, GPT-4.1 Mini cuts latency by nearly 50% and slashes costs by up to 83% compared to previous versions like GPT-4o. This makes it ideal for high-speed applications, including text classification, automated customer support, and other tasks that require lighter AI processing, all while keeping operational costs down.
Key features that make GPT-4.5 Mini stand out
GPT-4.1 Nano
GPT-4.1 Nano takes compactness and affordability to the next level. This model is the most lightweight and cost-efficient option in the GPT-4.1 family, specifically designed for tasks that demand ultra-low latency and high performance. Despite its small size, it handles up to 32,768 tokens with impressive efficiency.
Although not open-source, GPT-4.1 Nano offers a powerful, flexible solution for developers who need a fast and lightweight AI tool for their projects. Updated with data until June 2024, it provides more accurate and up-to-date information for recent tasks.
With its minimal operational cost and excellent performance, GPT-4.1 Nano excels in environments where computational resources are limited. It is perfect for applications like real-time code completion, quick text analysis, and other time-sensitive tasks, delivering fast and reliable results.
Key features that make GPT-4.5 Nano stand out
OpenAI's new GPT-4.1 models, exclusively available through their API, have raised the bar in terms of performance. In direct comparisons with the previous GPT-4o, GPT-4.1 outshines its predecessor across a range of key benchmarks, making it an even more powerful tool for developers. Here’s a breakdown of its impressive performance:
Coding
When it comes to coding, GPT-4.1 truly stands out. It goes above and beyond GPT-4o in a variety of coding-related tasks. From solving coding challenges to handling frontend development, GPT-4.1 excels at delivering precise, clean code with fewer unnecessary edits. It’s also more reliable when following diff formats and using tools consistently. The performance of GPT-4.1 is backed by its impressive score of 54.6% on SWE-bench Verified, which is 21.4% higher than GPT-4o and 26.6% better than GPT-4.5. This makes it a standout option for coding-related tasks.
GPT-4.1 shows superior coding capabilities compared to previous OpenAI modelsCre: OpenAI
Additionally, it performs exceptionally well on the Aider polyglot diff benchmark, more than doubling GPT-4o’s score and surpassing GPT-4.5 by 8%. This test evaluates how well the model can edit large files across multiple programming languages and in different diff formats.
All three GPT-4.1 models perform impressively on the Aider benchmark. Cre: OpenAI
In frontend development, GPT-4.1 continues to impress. It creates web applications that not only function well but also look great. In side-by-side tests, human graders favored the websites built by GPT-4.1 over those created by GPT-4o 80% of the time.
Instruction following
One of the key areas where GPT-4.1 shines is in instruction following. When tested on Scale’s MultiChallenge benchmark, which measures how well the model can follow multi-turn instructions, GPT-4.1 scored 38.3%, an improvement of 10.5% over GPT-4o. This shows that GPT-4.1 is not only better at handling complex instructions but is also more reliable when dealing with code diffs across different formats.
On IFEval, a benchmark that assesses how well a model sticks to specified output requirements, GPT-4.1 scored 87.4%, which is a solid improvement from GPT-4o’s 81%. This makes GPT-4.1 a better option for tasks where precision and adherence to instructions are key.
GPT-4.1 achieves strong results on the hard subset of the IFEval benchmark, demonstrating reliable compliance with strict output requirements. Cre: OpenAI
Long context
Another standout feature of GPT-4.1 is its ability to process longer contexts. All three variants of GPT-4.1 (Standard, Mini, and Nano) now support up to 1 million tokens, which is 8 times the size of GPT-4o’s maximum capacity of 128K tokens. Not only is this a massive leap forward, but GPT-4.1 offers this extended context without any additional cost—meaning developers can work with more data without worrying about inflated expenses.
OpenAI tests its new model on Needle-in-a-Haystack accuracy to evaluate long-context performance. Cre: OpenAI
The model also performs well on Graphwalks, a benchmark that tests multi-hop reasoning over long contexts. Here, GPT-4.1 scores 61.7%, a significant improvement from GPT-4o’s 41.7%, though still trailing behind GPT-4.5 at 72.3%. This capability is especially useful for applications requiring multi-step reasoning across large amounts of information.
The practical benefits of GPT-4.1 go beyond theoretical performance. It has proven its value in real-world scenarios. For example, Thomson Reuters saw a 17% increase in the efficiency of their multi-document legal analysis using GPT-4.1. Meanwhile, Carlyle reported a 50% improvement in extracting detailed data from dense financial reports. These results highlight how GPT-4.1 can optimize workflows in industries that deal with large volumes of data.
By working closely with developers, OpenAI has fine-tuned GPT-4.1 to meet the needs of real-world applications, making it a go-to choice for tackling complex challenges and driving innovation across sectors.
A standout feature of GPT-4.1 is not just its enhanced capabilities, but also its affordability. OpenAI’s decision to reduce pricing makes this powerful AI model more accessible. The company aimed to make GPT-4.1 more practical and usable for a wider range of real-world applications, and the pricing structure reflects this commitment.
With this update, GPT-4.1 brings a notable reduction in API costs, making it significantly more cost-effective compared to previous high-volume models. This price cut is designed to ensure that even businesses with large-scale needs can take full advantage of the model’s capabilities without breaking the bank.
GPT-4.1 pricing reflects OpenAI’s effort to make advanced AI more accessible than ever before. Cre: OpenAI
Currently, GPT-4.1 models are not accessible to users through the usual methods (such as ChatGPT), unlike other models provided by OpenAI. This latest version is not integrated into ChatGPT, so users cannot directly access it through the familiar interface. Instead, GPT-4.1 is tailored for developers and can only be accessed via the OpenAI API.
To get started with GPT-4.1, developers can explore the model through the OpenAI Playground, which now supports all three variants (Standard, Mini, and Nano). The Playground allows developers to experiment with system prompts, test multi-step outputs, and evaluate how the models handle complex tasks like long documents or structured inputs. This hands-on approach lets developers fine-tune the model before integrating it into their production systems.
The launch of GPT-4.1 marks a significant milestone in OpenAI’s journey to advance artificial intelligence. With its enhanced performance, reduced latency, and cost-effective pricing, GPT-4.1 is tailored to meet the growing demands of both developers and businesses. The arrival of GPT-4.1 not only strengthens OpenAI’s position in the AI market but also paves the way for the upcoming release of GPT-5 expected in May, signaling the next step in the company’s AI evolution.
Share
