OpenAI shut down the Assistants API and deprecated whisper-1 and the GPT-4o transcription models

On August 26, 2026, OpenAI shut down the Assistants API and deprecated whisper-1 and its GPT-4o transcription models, which were set to shut down on February 26, 2027.

Archive entry: this covers an event from August 26, 2026, and we published it on November 8, 2026. The details come from sources dated at the time and may have changed since.

On August 26, 2026, OpenAI shut down the Assistants API and told developers to migrate to the Responses API and the Conversations API. According to the OpenAI API changelog, the company deprecated whisper-1 and its GPT-4o transcription models the same day, with shutdown set for February 26, 2027.

What changed

The Assistants API shut down on August 26, 2026, and OpenAI pointed developers to its migration guide for moving to the Responses API and the Conversations API.
OpenAI deprecated whisper-1, gpt-4o-transcribe, gpt-4o-mini-transcribe and gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize.
These transcription models were set to shut down on February 26, 2027.
The recommended replacements were gpt-live-transcribe or gpt-transcribe.
The deprecation affected the v1/audio/transcriptions and v1/realtime endpoints.
The deprecations page also moved /v1/audio/translations users to v1/realtime/translations.

What it means for people who build with AI

Any app still on the Assistants API stopped working when it shut down. Whisper-based transcription received a hard end date: teams that called the v1/audio/transcriptions or v1/realtime endpoints with the deprecated models had until February 26, 2027 to move to gpt-live-transcribe or gpt-transcribe, the replacements OpenAI recommended.

Where the notice appeared

The OpenAI deprecations page carried a notice dated August 26, 2026, alongside the changelog entry.

Sources

OpenAI API changelog: transcription model deprecations and Assistants API shutdown (OpenAI, August 26, 2026, official)
Deprecations | OpenAI API (2026-08-26 notice) (OpenAI, August 26, 2026, official)

Written with AI assistance, strictly from the sources listed above. Before it went live, automated checks verified its dates, sources and every language edition.