text-davinci-003
text-davinci-003 (OpenAI)
Yes — text-davinci-003 is retired. OpenAI deprecated it on July 6, 2023 and shut it down on January 4, 2024; API requests to it now fail. The recommended replacement is GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct.
The InstructGPT model that powered the first ChatGPT preview and most of the original prompt-engineering literature. It was a completions model — you sent a prompt string and got a continuation — and its retirement in January 2024 is what forced a generation of code onto the chat API.
The facts
| Provider | OpenAI |
|---|---|
| Model id | text-davinci-003 |
| Released | November 28, 2022 |
| Deprecated | July 6, 2023 |
| Shutdown | January 4, 2024 · 938 days ago |
| Status | Retired |
| Last verified | July 30, 2026 |
What to use instead
The named successor kept the completions endpoint alive; it is now deprecated too, shutting down September 2026. After that, no completions-style model remains.
What parameters gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct accepts on modelparams.dev
Change the id
In most cases the migration is one string. Check the parameter differences before you ship — newer models drop older sampling knobs more often than they add them.
- "model": "text-davinci-003"
+ "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct"
Where the migration path ends
The recommended successor has itself been replaced. Following the chain to a model that is still active today:
- text-davinci-003
- gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct Deprecated
- gpt-5.4-mini Active
Frequently asked questions
- When did OpenAI text-davinci-003 shut down?
- OpenAI text-davinci-003 shut down on January 4, 2024. API requests to it fail from that date onward.
- What replaces OpenAI text-davinci-003?
- OpenAI recommends GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct (`gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct`) as the replacement for OpenAI text-davinci-003. The named successor kept the completions endpoint alive; it is now deprecated too, shutting down September 2026. After that, no completions-style model remains.
- Is OpenAI text-davinci-003 still available?
- No. OpenAI text-davinci-003 is retired and no longer served — it was shut down on January 4, 2024. Calls to it return an error.
- How do I migrate from OpenAI text-davinci-003 to gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct?
- Swap the model id in your API call: replace "text-davinci-003" with "gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct". The named successor kept the completions endpoint alive; it is now deprecated too, shutting down September 2026. After that, no completions-style model remains.
Sources
- OpenAI API deprecations · developers.openai.com · accessed July 30, 2026
Found something wrong? The data is one YAML file — edit it on GitHub.
This page, for machines
Drop the badge in a README so it turns red the day this model is retired:
[](https://modeldeprecations.dev/openai/text-davinci-003)