OpenAI Updates GPT-5.5 Instant for Response Style and Quality

Four weeks after its initial release, OpenAI has shipped a new version of its GPT-5.5 Instant AI model to address some issues.

“We shipped a new version of GPT-5.5 Instant today,” OpenAI research lead Michelle Pokras tweeted. “The previous model was too bullet pilled. The new one improves on some other important dimensions: Sycophancy, factuality, and multilingual performance. Hope you’ll like it!”

(Yes, I had to look up the term bullet-pilled. It means “to be deeply obsessed with a specific topic, product, or idea, often to the point of being defensive or dismissive of alternatives.”)

Like its predecessors, GPT-5.5 Instant is optimized for low-latency and efficiency, and it’s the default choice for prompts in ChatGPT for that reason. According to the release notes, the new version of GPT-5.5 Instant and its API have improved response style and quality.

“It’s now easier to read, more natural in everyday conversations, and better paced in practical help tasks, with fewer overly long or bullet-heavy responses,” the release note explain. “With this update, canvas will no longer be available in GPT-5.5 Instant or GPT-5.5 Thinking. Writing and coding functionality is now supported directly in chat responses through writing blocks and code blocks. Paid users can continue using canvas for a limited time through legacy models until those models are sunset.”

Tied to that, OpenAI will retire GPT-4.5 in ChatGPT on June 27 and then retire OpenAI o3 in ChatGPT on August 26. The company notes that it routinely retires older models with limited usage so that it can free up resources for its newer, more capable models.