Build Independently confirmed 2 publishers 2 min read Published Sep 21, 2026, 2:14 AM PDT

OpenAI routes its shutdown notices to the account that created the API key

OpenAI's own deprecations page lists four cutoffs between 24 September and 23 October 2026. Finding out whether they touch your code takes one look at the Usage dashboard, in an account plenty of buyers cannot sign into.

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Illustration accompanying OpenAI routes its shutdown notices to the account that created the API key — Generated illustration

What happened

OpenAI shut the Assistants API on 26 August 2026, and the next cutoffs are 24 September for the Videos API and sora-2, 28 September for the last legacy completion snapshots, and 23 October for gpt-3.5-turbo and gpt-4.
The dates come from OpenAI's official deprecations page, which the dev.to author says he checked on 16 August 2026 and reconfirmed on 13 September.
Runtimewire reports that Disney, which had agreed in December 2025 to license over 200 characters for Sora and to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, said it would not proceed once OpenAI decided to close the product.

Why it matters

What it costs cost Migration labour was never in the fixed-price build quotes of 2023 and 2024, which compared implementation cost and monthly token spend, so the buyer absorbs each retirement cycle out of pocket.
What it limits constraint A new model string does not satisfy the 24 September date, because the Videos API closes with no listed successor and OpenAI is out of the business of supplying video models to developers.
Who's exposed exposure A company whose key lives in someone else's account never receives the email, so it meets the deprecation as an outage in a live business process.
What it sets up precedent With the six-month floor tied to generally available status, anything preview or specialist in a stack now needs a fallback written at build time, not a calendar reminder.

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Confirmed2 publishers

The check takes one login. Sign in to platform.openai.com with the account that pays the API bill, open Usage, and switch the breakdown to group by model; the names in the last 30 days are what your code actually calls ^[14]. On Anthropic, open the Usage page in the Claude Console and click Export, which returns a CSV broken down by API key and by model, a procedure Anthropic documents for auditing deprecated models ^[15].

Failure on the day is abrupt. According to the dev.to write-up, a call to a retired model returns an error and the integration stops ^[10]. OpenAI's documentation says "software relying on OpenAI models may need occasional updates to keep working" ^[12], and the same write-up notes that Anthropic writes almost the same sentence ^[13].

Not every cutoff is the same job. On 28 September the old completion snapshots, gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct, babbage-002, davinci-002 and gpt-3.5-turbo-1106, are folded into gpt-5.6-terra, so the work is a model string and a regression pass ^[5]. On 24 September the Videos API goes along with sora-2 and sora-2-pro, and the deprecation page lists no replacement ^[1]. Runtimewire reports that the same date ends OpenAI's run as a supplier of generative video models to developers, five months after the consumer app and website closed on 26 April ^[2]^[18]^[3]. sora-2 shipped on 30 September 2025 ^[19], which gave the API 359 days of life ^[25].

Four of the published cutoffs fall inside the 29 days between 24 September and 23 October ^[23]. Twenty days of notice, which is what gpt-5.4-cyber got, works out at about a ninth of the six-month minimum, and that minimum applies to generally available models ^[9]^[24]. Six months is a generous notice period for an API, and it is worth nothing in an inbox nobody reads.

The softest number here is the one the routing argument rests on. The dev.to author says the retirement notice goes by email to the developer account that created the API key, and that half the time that account belongs to an agency no longer working with the client ^[11]. Half is an estimate from one practice's client base, and the piece does not say how it was counted. For it to describe your setup, your key inventory has to look like his, and the Usage view settles that in a few minutes ^[14]. Where nobody at the company can sign in at all, which the write-up calls the most common case ^[26], the remedy on the record is administrative: the provider account opened in the company's name, paid by the company, with the outside developer added as an invited user ^[17].

What to watch

Whether OpenAI names any replacement path for video generation before the Videos API closes on 24 September.
Whether the 23 October date for gpt-3.5-turbo and gpt-4 holds; the deprecations page has already been reconfirmed once since 16 August.
Whether more models ship with sub-month notice like gpt-5.4-cyber's twenty days, which would leave non-GA models outside any usable planning window.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence66
Adoption62
Hype gap+16
Incentives58
Confidence64

Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

[1]
On 24 September 2026 OpenAI retires the Videos API along with sora-2 and sora-2-pro, with no replacement listed on the deprecation page.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[2]
OpenAI will switch off Sora's API on 24 September, five months after closing the video generator's app and website.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[3]
The shutdown ends OpenAI's run as a supplier of generative video models to developers.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[4]
OpenAI shut down the Assistants API on 26 August 2026.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[5]
On 28 September 2026 OpenAI retires the last old completion-style snapshots (gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct, babbage-002, davinci-002, gpt-3.5-turbo-1106) into gpt-5.6-terra.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[6]
On 23 October 2026 OpenAI retires gpt-3.5-turbo and gpt-4.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[7]
The dates are published on OpenAI's official deprecations page, checked on 16 August 2026 and reconfirmed on 13 September 2026 by the dev.to author.
Reported Supported Source: dev.toView cited source
[8]
gpt-5.4-cyber was announced on 11 September and shuts down on 1 October, twenty days later.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[9]
The six-month minimum notice OpenAI promises covers generally available models.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[10]
On shutdown day the integration will not degrade gracefully: it will return an error and stop working.
Reported Supported Source: dev.toView cited source
[11]
The deprecation notice arrives by email to the developer account that created the API key, which the dev.to author says half the time belongs to an agency that no longer works with the client.
Reported Supported Source: dev.toView cited source
[12]
OpenAI's documentation says: "software relying on OpenAI models may need occasional updates to keep working."
Reported SupportedView cited source
[13]
Anthropic writes almost the same sentence in its documentation, according to the dev.to write-up.
Reported Supported Source: dev.toView cited source
[14]
To audit OpenAI usage: sign in to platform.openai.com with the account that pays for the API, go to Usage, switch the breakdown to group by model, and look at the last 30 days.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[15]
In the Claude Console, the Usage page's Export button produces a CSV of usage broken down by API key and by model; Anthropic documents this procedure for auditing deprecated models.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[16]
When the API key belongs to a third party, the retirement notice goes to them rather than the client, and the client cannot audit the spend or migrate without them.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[17]
The fix given is that the AI provider account is opened in the company's name, paid by the company, and the external developer is added as an invited user.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[18]
Sora's web and mobile products disappeared on 26 April.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[19]
OpenAI released Sora 2 and its social video app on 30 September 2025, and the invitation-only app reached the top of Apple's US App Store within days.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[20]
An OpenAI spokesperson told WIRED that rising compute demand contributed to the decision to close Sora, with the Sora research group shifting toward world-simulation work for robotics.
Reported Supported Source: OpenAI spokesperson, via WIREDView cited source
[21]
OpenAI has not published Sora's revenue or operating costs.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[22]
Disney agreed in December 2025 to license more than 200 characters for use in Sora and planned to invest $1 billion in OpenAI; after OpenAI decided to close Sora, Disney said it would not proceed with the investment.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[23]
Four published OpenAI cutoffs fall inside the 29 days from 24 September to 23 October 2026: 24 September, 28 September, 1 October and 23 October.
Derived Supported
[24]
Twenty days of notice is about one ninth of a six-month notice period.
Derived Supported
[25]
359 days separate sora-2's release on 30 September 2025 from the API shutdown on 24 September 2026.
Derived Supported
[26]
The dev.to author says the most common case is that nobody at the company can log into the provider's dashboard.
Reported Insufficient Source: dev.toView cited source
[27]
Buyers compared implementation price and monthly token cost when quoting AI automation, but not how often they would pay for a migration; the mandatory maintenance was not in the quote.
Reported Insufficient Source: dev.toView cited source

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

dev.to
1 article · September 21, 2026
The AI model your business runs on is being retired: the 2026 shutdown calendar
runtimewire.com
1 article · September 20, 2026
OpenAI will shut Sora's API as Kling turns AI video into real revenue

Clarity analysis

How the coverage leans and what the record actually supports. Read the methodology

Perspective Coverage

How much of the coverage speaks to builders, operators and investors. It measures emphasis, not whether the story is right.

Builder

Only dev.to names the strings that break: gpt-3.5-turbo and gpt-4 on 23 October, the completion-era snapshots on 28 September, sora-2 and sora-2-pro on 24 September with nothing listed to move to. It also says the rename is not the migration, because LangChain and LlamaIndex still default to gpt-3.5-turbo and the substitutes reject tools on Chat Completions unless reasoning is turned off. The sharpest item is gpt-5.4-cyber: announced 11 September, off on 1 October, twenty days total. OpenAI's six-month promise covers only generally available models, and gpt-5.4-cyber never carried that status, so its twenty-day window fell outside the promise entirely.

Operator

The finding an operator can use is that the retirement email goes to whoever created the API key, and the dev.to author says the case he meets most often is that nobody at the company can sign in at all. Three minutes settles it: Usage on platform.openai.com, grouped by model, last 30 days; or the Claude Console export, which returns a CSV per key. Both steps assume you have the login. The remedy he gives is ownership — account in the company's name, paid by the company, developer invited in — and he puts it ahead of any code work. Runtimewire supplies the pressure test: it published three days before the Sora API closed.

Investor

Runtimewire is the one making a market argument, and it has numbers on one side only. Kuaishou reported Kling revenue above RMB850 million in the second quarter and more than RMB1.5 billion across the first half of 2026; Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and BlueFive put $2.8 billion into the unit in July at roughly $18 billion. OpenAI has published nothing on Sora's revenue or costs, and Disney dropped a planned $1 billion investment after the closure decision. Kuaishou does not break out Kling's expenses or profit either, a limit runtimewire states itself, so the $18 billion valuation rests on a sales line without a compute bill next to it.

Reality

Evidence, adoption, hype gap, incentives and confidence, each read independently from the current record on the scale shown beneath it. How these are measured.

Evidence66: 0100
Vendor's own dates, one reader
Every date here traces back to OpenAI's deprecations page, and one person read it: the dev.to author, who says he checked on 16 August and again on 13 September. The 24 September Sora cutoff is the single item two publishers carry independently, and the dates match. The calendar table itself is truncated in our copy of the post, so the four dates discussed in the text are the checkable part. The weak link is the diagnosis: the claim that most 2023-era small business builds point at gpt-3.5-turbo or gpt-4 comes from the author's caseload, with no count attached.
Adoption62: 0100
Two cutoffs already executed
The Assistants API went dark on 26 August and Sora's app and website closed on 26 April, so the pattern the story describes has already run twice. Disney's decision not to proceed with its $1 billion investment is a measured consequence of the video closure. No one has published how many live integrations still call gpt-3.5-turbo or gpt-4 on 22 October. Kuaishou, by contrast, gives the paid-video market a reported Kling revenue figure that OpenAI never provided for Sora.
Hype gap+16: −100 understated0 aligned+100 overstated
Calendar conservative, hit rate asserted
The urgency in the dev.to post rests on two figures with nothing behind them: a "very high chance" your 2023 build is on one of the two October models, and an agency holding the API key "half the time". Runtimewire's three days to migrate counts forward from its own publication date; it is not a measure of how many developers still call sora-2. The dates underneath are if anything understated, because gpt-5.4-cyber got twenty days and the six-month floor only covers generally available models.
Incentives58: 0100
Both writers sell something adjacent
The dev.to calendar routes readers into the same author's token counter, his API pricing guide, his GPT-6 Astra migration piece and a companion post on what breaks on 23 October; urgency is what makes those links get clicked. Runtimewire's framing rewards the three companies whose revenue it can quote, and it discloses the limit on its own case: Kuaishou reports Kling's sales without breaking out expenses or profit. OpenAI has published nothing on Sora's economics, so the comparison is one-sided by construction.
Confidence64: 0100
Dates firm, diagnosis softer
I would act on the schedule and treat the exposure estimate as a prompt to go look. The dates are the vendor's, dated twice by the reader, and corroborated where the two publishers overlap. The parts a reader would most like quantified — how many production systems point at the retiring models, how often an outside agency holds the key — are one consultant's experience. Disney walking away from a billion-dollar investment is the hardest independent check that the video retreat is real.

Topics and entities

Topics

Integration maintenance
Generative video
Model Deprecation
AI Unit Economics
API account governance