OpenAI's New Models Overview & Prompting Guide

GPT4.1, o3 & o4-mini

OpenAI doesn't calm down and keeps throwing new models at us. This week, the company showed a whole family of GPT-4.1 (with an emphasis on coding), as well as the most capable models to date, o3 and o4-mini.

However, the naming problem is still here (Sam Altman promises to fix it this summer), so it is very easy to get confused. Let's break it down.

In this post:

• Explanation for OpenAI's Latest Updates

• How to Access & Who Needs The Latest Models

• Prompting Guide with Tips & Prompts

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GPT-4.1 | Overview & Explanation

The week began with the release of the GPT-4.1. This is not one model but a family of three. They are direct successors to the GPT-4o, which users typically use for basic tasks and web searches.

Quick Overview:

• GPT-4.1: The flagship model with the highest capabilities

• GPT-4.1 Mini: A balanced middle option

• GPT-4.1 Nano: A smaller, faster, and more affordable option

The main features of these models are coding and instruction following.

OpenAI has specifically optimized these models to excel at writing, understanding, and fixing code. This isn't just a minor upgrade: according to Windsurf (an AI coding tool and one of OpenAI's partners), GPT-4.1 is about 60% better than its predecessor at coding tasks.

Here's an example of how GPT-4.1 does a better job of generating apps:

Apparently, the company didn’t want to ignore all the hype around vibe coding. So these models can be a good help for those who want to create apps.

The Memory Upgrade

One of the most impressive features of GPT-4.1 is its massive memory upgrade. The model can process up to one million tokens in a single conversation, which is roughly 750,000 words, or longer than the entire "Lord of the Rings" series.

This means you can have much more natural, flowing conversations with the AI without it forgetting what you discussed earlier. You can share large documents, extensive code bases, or detailed project requirements all at once, and GPT-4.1 can keep track of everything.

When combined with primitives like the Responses API⁠, you can create more useful agents for software engineering, extracting insights from documents, resolving customer requests with minimal hand-holding, and performing other complex tasks.

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OpenAI’s o3 & o4-mini | Best For Reasoning

Just days after the GPT-4.1 release, OpenAI doubled down by launching two new reasoning models: o3 and o4-mini. While GPT-4.1 focuses on coding and instruction following, these new reasoning models take a different approach to AI problem-solving.

And this update is no less significant. Let’s check why + Prompting Guide & Availability info inside 👇