28 October 2026
OpenAI explains why it changed how it names its AI models
First reported
Simon Willison ran this on .
- OpenAI's Ted Sanders says AI model performance has many dimensions but mostly tracks the model's size.
- Bigger models cost more to run, which is a trade-off OpenAI weighs when it releases them.
- OpenAI's version numbers now show release order, which model each one builds on, and roughly how big the improvement is.
How it was covered
Simon WillisonDaily notes and links
Model size and performance trade-offs, and how OpenAI's version numbering works