GPT-image-1 retirement: prepare for October 23, 2026

The deadline

OpenAI announced GPT-image-1 deprecation on April 22, 2026, with shutdown scheduled for October 23, 2026. As of this article’s publication, the deadline is still ahead.

Migrate by workflow

Inventory applications, scheduled jobs, and saved editing presets that use the original model. Assign a replacement and an owner for each. Check the current model catalog rather than relying on a replacement recommendation copied from an old announcement.

Begin with the workflows whose output is easiest to review. For sensitive product imagery, keep a separate acceptance set that checks identity, lettering, and required composition.

Avoid an untested last-minute switch

Compare actual requests, response parsing, output storage, and review results. An available model ID is only one part of a working integration. Confirm quota and access in the environment that will run production jobs.

Move a limited set of requests, inspect logs, then expand. Keep a record of jobs submitted before the migration so their outputs can still be reconciled correctly.

Make the fallback viable

A rollback must target a supported model and known working application configuration. After the shutdown date, the retired identifier cannot serve as the safety net. Update internal documentation and examples when the migration is complete.