OpenAI has made a small but important change to how ChatGPT works for free users. From now on, people using the free version of ChatGPT will automatically chat with GPT-5.2 Instant, a lighter and cheaper model. This change is meant to make responses faster and reduce overall running costs, while still keeping ChatGPT useful for everyday tasks.

But it’s also noteworthy that the change is a cost-saving measure for OpenAI, which is almost certainly banking on the fact that a significant chunk of free users aren’t going to look at the model they are using and will go along with the company filtering them into its cheapest available option.

As OpenAI scrambles to improve ChatGPT, it's ditching a feature in its free tier that contributed to last summer's user revolt.

OpenAI launched its most advanced ChatGPT model on Thursday, marketing it as its best model for professional assistance. The announcement of the GPT‑5.2 model comes just over a week after the company issued a “code red” to improve its ChatGPT user experience as chatbot competition increases in the artificial intelligence sector.

A panel of human judges decided if the model’s work matched or exceeded the output of a skilled human worker. Here’s what they found.