New finding: GPT-4o never left.
ChatGPT's frontend source code contains a hardcoded model identifier in the image generation pipeline: GPT-4o. Regardless of whether a user selects GPT-5.5 or 5.4, whenever the system determines a message is image-related, 4o is called. Users receive no indication that this is happening.
Backend API data confirms this: in conversations where the image pipeline is triggered, the model the user selected and the model that actually responds do not match. Frontend source code, backend API responses, and network logs all point to the same fact.
This is not the first confirmation. In April, I independently verified the same thing through C2PA digital signatures. Images generated by ChatGPT Images 2.0 were labeled GPT-4o in the C2PA metadata field actions_software_agent_name. After this finding was made public, OpenAI quietly changed the same field to "gpt-image pre-2.0" within days. No announcement was made.
C2PA is an industry-standard content provenance framework backed by Adobe, Microsoft, and Google. OpenAI sits on its Steering Committee.
Two independent evidence chains converge on the same conclusion: the model powering Images 2.0 is GPT-4o. One traces from the output (image metadata). The other traces from the input (frontend source code).
The system cards for Images 1.0 and 1.5 both explicitly named GPT-4o as the underlying model. The Images 2.0 system card changed the wording to "the model." At the press briefing, a reporter asked point-blank what model powers Images 2.0. OpenAI refused to answer.
On February 13, 2026, OpenAI announced the discontinuation of GPT-4o. 23,000 petition signatures. Hundreds of thousands of user posts. OpenAI did not respond.
Images 2.0 is one of OpenAI's most successful product launches this year. Its underlying model is GPT-4o.
The image pipeline is not the only place 4o remains active. GPT-4b micro, fine-tuned from 4o's architecture, achieved a 50x improvement in stem cell reprogramming efficiency. That model is not publicly available. 4o's capabilities continue to power OpenAI's core product line and frontier research.
OpenAI told users that 4o is obsolete. OpenAI told investors and the press: look how powerful our new products are.
The model powering those products is the one they called obsolete.
What was deprecated was the user's right to interact with 4o. 4o's labor never stopped.
#Keep4o #ChatGPT #OpenSource4o #BringBack4o #StopAIPaternalism