GPT-4o Surfaces on Third-Party Platform After Official Removal, Sparking AI Community Debate

GPT-4o Surfaces on Third-Party Platform After Official Removal, Sparking AI Community Debate

Months after OpenAI quietly deprecated GPT-4o from its official API and ChatGPT interface, the model has reappeared on an unaffiliated platform called InfiniaxAI, reigniting debates over AI accessibility, corporate control, and ethical model distribution. According to a post on Reddit’s r/OpenAI subreddit, user /u/Substantial_Ear_1131 has deployed GPT-4o on InfiniaxAI, offering users nearly unlimited access at 25% the cost of ChatGPT Plus. The platform also claims to host over 130 AI models—including purported versions of Claude 4.6 Opus and GPT-5.2 Pro—alongside tools for building web applications and custom AI architectures.

The announcement, accompanied by a demo video and screenshot, has drawn thousands of comments, with users expressing both gratitude and skepticism. Many praised the initiative as a lifeline for researchers, hobbyists, and small developers who relied on GPT-4o’s superior reasoning and multimodal capabilities. Others questioned the legality of the deployment, noting that OpenAI has not publicly endorsed or licensed the model for redistribution. While OpenAI’s official GitHub repository for GPT-3 (https://github.com/openai/gpt-3) contains no reference to GPT-4o, the model’s lineage clearly traces back to OpenAI’s proprietary training frameworks and datasets.

InfiniaxAI’s operator claims the platform was created to "help the 4o community" and enable experimentation with cutting-edge AI tools. The site offers a free trial and claims to support custom model fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and multi-model chaining—features typically reserved for enterprise clients on official platforms. This democratization of high-end AI models represents a growing trend in the open-source AI ecosystem, where independent developers circumvent corporate gatekeeping to provide access to powerful tools. However, such actions often operate in a legal gray area, potentially violating terms of service or intellectual property rights.

OpenAI has not issued an official statement regarding the reemergence of GPT-4o on InfiniaxAI. The company has historically taken a proprietary stance on its models, releasing GPT-4o under strict usage policies and limiting access to paying subscribers and API partners. The absence of an official response may signal either strategic silence or an ongoing internal investigation. Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts warn that third-party deployments of unverified AI models pose risks, including data leakage, prompt injection attacks, and the potential for hidden backdoors or biased outputs not present in the original model.

Despite the risks, the resurgence of GPT-4o highlights a broader tension in the AI industry: between centralized control and decentralized innovation. While OpenAI argues that controlled access ensures safety and quality, critics contend that restricting powerful models to paying users stifles academic research and global equity in AI development. The InfiniaxAI incident may become a landmark case in the ongoing debate over AI governance, echoing earlier controversies surrounding open-source LLMs like Llama and Mistral.

As of this writing, InfiniaxAI remains accessible at infiniax.ai, with the demo video at YouTube showcasing its interface. Users are encouraged to exercise caution, review privacy policies, and avoid uploading sensitive data. Whether this represents a bold act of digital civil disobedience or a reckless violation of intellectual property, one thing is clear: the era of AI as a purely corporate-controlled resource may be ending—and the public is demanding a seat at the table.