Obituaries · OpenAI

gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct, 2023–2026

OpenAI model switched off after 3 years

OpenAI has confirmed the retirement of gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct, effective September 28, 2026, aged 3 years. It answered questions, wrote emails and was blamed for both. Code that still calls it will find out the hard way.

Survived by gpt-5.6-terra, younger, cheaper, and named in the same documentation table.

Model ID	`gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct`
Provider	OpenAI deprecations page
Born	September 18, 2023
Shut down	September 28, 2026
Successor	`gpt-5.6-terra`

In lieu of flowers

Replace the string. Search your code for gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct and swap it for gpt-5.6-terra, or paste a repo into Model Graveyard Check to find every dead model at once.

Want to say something to it? Leave a letter on the farewell wall.

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Technical notice, with a code scanner: gpt-3-5-turbo-instruct on Model Graveyard Check