ChatGPT — February 4, 2026

February 4, 2026

GPT-5.2's Extended thinking level has been fully restored to its original, higher setting, correcting an earlier inadvertent reduction. This ensures users receive maximum depth and accuracy when needed. Additionally, Standard and Light thinking times have been refined for generally quicker responses, providing a better balance between answer quality and speed. These adjustments offer users enhanced control to select the ideal thinking level for their specific questions, from lighter, faster interactions to more extended, in-depth reasoning.

Changed

Update on thinking time settings for GPT-5.2 Thinking in ChatGPT

Fixed

Jan 10, 2026: We lowered the Standard and Light thinking time as we observed users prefer faster responses. As part of this update, the Extended thinking setting for GPT-5.2 was unintentionally changed to be lower which we have now fixed. February 3, 2026: We made another small reduction to Standard thinking time based on testing. February 4, 2026: We’re restoring the Extended thinking level for GPT-5.2 Thinking to its prior setting, correcting the inadvertent reduction from January. Extended is now back to its prior level. We periodically adjust the default thinking time for our reasoning models. These changes are based on ongoing experiments to find the best balance between answer quality and response speed for users. The thinking level toggle introduced in September 2025 gives users more choice beyond Standard, allowing them to select the right thinking level for their question—whether they want lighter, faster responses or more extended reasoning when depth and accuracy matter more. Thinking time is not directly comparable across different models. Each model is tuned independently to what works best for users. We’ll continue to adjust these settings as models evolve, and will keep giving users clear controls when there are meaningful tradeoffs to choose from.