So at this point OpenAI has 6 reasoning models, 4 flagship chat models, and 7 cost optimized models. So that's 17 models in total and that's not even counting their older models and more specialized ones. Compare this with Anthropic that has 7 models in total and 2 main ones that they promote. This is just getting to be a bit much, seems like they are trying to cover for the fact that they haven't actually done much.…
To use that criticism for this release ain't really fair, as these will replace the old models (o3 will replace o1, o4-mini will replace o3-mini). On a more general level - sure, but they aren't planning to use this release to add a larger number of models, it's just that deprecating/killing the old models can't be done overnight.
Once you get to this point you're putting the paradox of choice on the user - I used to use a particular brand toothpaste for years until it got to the point where I'd be in the supermarket looking at a wall of toothpaste all by the same brand with no discernible difference between the products. Why is one of them called "whitening"? Do the others not do that? Why is this one called "complete" and that one called "complete ultra"? That would suggest that the "complete" one wasn't actually complete. I stopped using that brand of toothpaste as it become impossible to know which was the right product within the brand.
If I was assessing the AI landscape today, where the leading models are largely indistinguishable in day to day use, I'd look at OpenAI's wall of toothpaste and immediately discount them.